Alias:The Second Coming
by Narek
Summary: All is well with Sydney, but destiny always gets its way and Rambaldi is far from finished with her.


**Alias Fanfiction-The Second Coming**

_Part 1: Meetings_

Eternity was a strange word. For almost all people, it meant the time that they would have to worry about after they died. However, for him, one Arvin Sloane, that wasn't the case. He was looking at an eternity trapped hundreds of feet below the ground in a cave, pinned underneath a large rock that was now his home. He was starving to death and yet not dying. His thirst overcame him and yet still, he was unable to die. After awhile, he lost track of time and being alone had seemed to drive him insane. Some could argue that he had always been crazy. He at least could name a few. There was his quest for Rambaldi and immortality which he had finally realized in the end. Even though he had succeeded in this quest, it pretty much didn't matter. He was trapped forever in eternal darkness thanks to one Jack Bristow. Once upon a time he had called him his friend but in the end they were enemies, him and his daughter Sydney who had despised Sloane for years. They had both had a hand in trapping him here. So, along with his creeping insanity, he had his anger to occupy him in his current predicament. All he had to hold onto were those feelings, all alone, for eternity, or so he was thinking. He didn't know how long he had been down there in the darkness and the silence before he slowly heard movement from behind where he lay pinned underneath the rock. At first, he just thought it was his imagination but then it got louder and more persistent. Then there was a huge blasting noise and to his surprise he felt a rush of fresh air.

"Hello?" he called out, "is anyone there?" At first there was no answer and he thought that he had again imagined the whole thing which wouldn't be the first time. Then, he heard footsteps and a shadow appeared over him.

"Who's there?" he asked again and just then the shadow came forward into his line of sight. The shadow revealed a young woman who looked to be in her late teens. She was dressed all in black, black jeans with a black tank top and a black leather jacket. She looked down at him with a sly grin on her face. He couldn't place her but she looked really familiar.

"Who are you?" he asked yet again and she just continued to smile.

"Oh Arvin, you are in a pickle aren't you," she said as she surveyed the scene. Sloane, however, just looked at her oddly and didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say, he was just confused. She noticed this and it just seemed to amuse her even more.

"Would you get up Sloane," she said, very determinedly and he just kept staring at her.

"I can't," he replied as he motioned towards the huge rock that had been his captor. When he said that, she seemed to just get aggravated.

"Please, this is nothing," she said as she reached behind her and pulled out a gun with odd attachments on it. She took it out and pointed it at the rock and fired. Sloane covered his face as she did so and the rock blew to pieces. As the rock fell away he was finally free at last. He slowly got to his feet and stretched to give feeling back to his extremities. He hadn't realized how good it was just to be able to walk and feel his body. When he was finished getting his body back in working order he turned to the strange young woman.

"Who are you?" he asked once more, the last time.

"Let's just say Arvin, I'm someone who you have a lot in common with and as far as you're concerned, you're going to help me do a great many things." With that, the two stood looking at one another in Rambaldi's tomb with the future ahead of them both.

The ocean air was invigorating. Every time the winds picked up it would spray a soft layer of ocean water on where Sydney Bristow always chose to sit. Her home on the beach was only a few yards away but she like sitting out near the water to watch her children play. Being that Isabelle was ten and her brother Jack was four, they were a handful to take care of. Luckily for her, she had her husband Michael Vaughn to help her. He was a big help and even though it was difficult sometimes, she loved every minute of it. Compared to what her life was before, her life now was a piece of cake. She was and is, at least partially now, a spy for the CIA. She had faced many life and death situations but she had come out alive every time. At first, she had worked for SD-6 which she believed had been a black ops division of the CIA. As it turned out though, SD-6 was none other than a part of the Alliance, an enemy organization. She had been working for the very enemy she thought she was fighting. After realizing this, she, along with her father Jack Bristow, who she found out also worked for SD-6, became double agents working for the CIA. She had eventually helped to bring them down not to mention countless other criminal organizations. Among those were the notorious and evil Covenant and even her own mother, Irina Derevko, who had put her through so much in her life. In the end, they had a life and death battle that led to a casualty of her own obsession. Her toughest obstacle though was Arvin Sloane the man who had done the worst things to her starting with the murder of her fiancé Danny. He too had become a casualty of his own obsession but unfortunally so had her father who died helping her stop him. Through the years she had practically been to hell and back both psychically and emotionally. Looking back now, part of her didn't know how she got through it all. She did know one thing for sure and that was that she wouldn't have gotten through it all without Vaughn. He had been her rock and she loved him with all her heart. Now that they were married and had their children everything she had been through had been left in the past. Now, she lived her life true and without secrets. The only time she went back to the CIA were for the important missions that required her or Vaughn's special skills and experience. So, with all that, she was happy and content, to her, her life was perfect.

The sun was high over CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Business was the usual, there were people going about their day. Eric Weiss, the coordinator for the covert operations for the NSC, was making his usual visit to Langley and was now on his way out. He was signing out when his eyes glanced over to the front doors where he saw a teenage girl come in flanked by two large men. Upon first glance he thought it was strange. They came in very casual and it was then that Weiss caught sight of something on one of the man's hands. It was a symbol that was placed between their first finger and thumb. He recognized it but by the time he did, it was too late to warn anyone. Before he knew it, the girl seemed to flip open a watch on her wrist and pushed something inside it. When she did, everything electrical went out and the emergencies that were supposed to come on, didn't. All guards would have went immediately to work but it seemed that these three were not the only three there. Positioned next to every guard was what looked like other agents or normal civilians. These people or imposters took out the officers before they could react to the mayhem. After taking their weapons they forced everyone onto the ground including Weiss himself. Once they had taken care of the guards and the agents the three he had seen first continued deeper into the building. Before they did, Weiss heard some of their conversation.

"Okay, we got only a little while before they're able to override the door locks and send their reinforcements," the girl said and the men nodded before they all took off towards their destination. However, before they did, the girl looked out over all the hostages and looked at Weiss. When their eyes locked she smiled a cocky half smile that made Weiss think that she knew him. He didn't recognize her, but she did seem a little familiar. They finally left and Weiss, along with everyone else were guarded until the trio returned. When they did, Weiss saw that the girl was holding a small black box in her hand. Weiss couldn't get a good look at what it was before they turned and got ready to leave. Just as they were making their way out other guards came. There was about ten of them and they were all armed. The girl must have had something really important because all guns pointed towards her. When they did, a surprising thing happened. Every single person who were obviously on the same side moved fast and stood between the girl and the guns. Weiss had never seen anything like it before. The wall of people didn't break up until the girl made her way out. It was so strange that no one seemed to know what to do they seemed confused and in a little bit of shock. When that wore off and the girl was gone that was when everyone else tried to get away. The CIA guards must have finally come to their senses because all hell broke loose. All the agents who were not being guarded anymore got up and joined in until the threat was eliminated. However, the girl still got away with whatever she had. Who was this girl and how these people broke into one of the most heavily guarded places in the country they didn't know.

Sydney was making dinner with Vaughn not far away and the kids playing in their rooms when there was a knock on their door. Vaughn went to go get it and when he returned, Marcus Dixon was with him. Dixon had been with Sydney since her days with SD-6. Now, however, he was Deputy Director for the CIA and he did his job well. He was the one who came to Sydney and Vaughn to give them their missions. The minute she saw him, she knew that he this wasn't a social visit.

"What's wrong?" she asked, seeing that was obviously disturbed by something.

"I'm sorry to disturb your meal but something's happened that I think you should know about," he replied as he motioned to the heavy folder he was holding.

"What is it?" Vaughn asked.

"Yesterday, we had a massive hit, someone broke into Langley and managed to incapacitate the whole building and get away with secure information from our database." As Dixon explained, both Sydney and Vaughn couldn't believe it.

"Was anyone killed?" Vaughn asked.

"A few and there was also some minor injuries and Weiss is a little shaken up."

"Wait, Weiss was there?" Vaughn asked and Dixon nodded. Vaughn had known Weiss for longer than anyone. He had been best man at he and Sydney's wedding.

"Yeah, he was actually the one who filled us in on what had happened and possibly where we can look to find answers."

"Meaning what?" Sydney asked and that was when Dixon took out the manila folder he was holding. Out of that, he pulled a DVD which he handed to them. Sydney took it and went over to her TV to play it. Before it started to play Dixon began to speak.

"They came in and set off some sort of EMP that knocked out everything electrical in the building and locked everyone in their offices long enough for them to get what they came for. Somehow though, as if by design, we don't know, the cameras were the only thing electrical that were working, it was as if . . . ." but then Dixon trailed off.

"As if what?" Sydney questioned.

" . . . it was as if they wanted us to know who was doing this," Dixon finished and that seemed ominous to everyone in the room.

"Why?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, it may not be so confusing when you see what is on the video," Dixon replied and so they watched. They watched as the intruders came into CIA headquarters but they mainly watched the trio who had come in first. Sydney was particularly drawn to the girl. For some reason, she recognized her but she didn't know where from. They all watched as the trio basically passed right through the security who were all locked in their offices. The people who managed to break through their doors were easily taken care of by the two big guards. The girl arrived at the database room, and looked around for a few moments before finding what she was looking for. When she found it, she yanked out one of the black boxes that were positioned in the large database. After she had it, she nodded to the others and they made their way out. However, before she left, she did the oddest thing. She obviously knew the cameras were still working because after taking out the part of the database she wanted, she looked directly at the camera in the room. It was there that Dixon paused the video, right on her face where she was grinning quite slyly. As Sydney stared at this girl's face up close, a shiver went right down her spine. She didn't know why but she had a really bad feeling that she couldn't shake. Her eyes seemed to pierce right into you.

"Is that it?" Vaughn asked as Sydney kept staring at the image.

"I wish, but I'm saving the best for last. As these people broke into Langley there was a simultaneous break in at a warehouse we had in Iowa. That too was heavily guarded but they got right through and it was there we had a bigger casualty count. They took what they wanted and blew the building with all the security officers inside." That news depressed them, they hated when some of their own were killed.

"What did they take?" Sydney asked and that was when Dixon got more serious, if that were even possible.

"This may give you an idea and like I said before, Weiss showed me where to look," Dixon replied and their eyes went back to the tape. Dixon fast forwarded to the end where they were making their getaway. They watched and were surprised at how the guards protected the girl. They didn't know if it were about her or about what she had in her hands.

"Okay now, watch," Dixon said and the two looked. It wasn't until Dixon paused and zoomed in on one of the guards hands. It was there that things became clearer and the bad feeling in Sydney's stomach got worse. Right on the small of the hand was the symbol of Milo Rambaldi. Rambaldi was the chief architect for Pope Alexander the fifth during the 15th century. He was also well known as being a prophet. When Sydney first heard about him she thought that he was just another quack. However, when many of his predictions began to come true she became more and more a believer. A believer, at least, in his predictions, unlike one Arvin Sloane, she wasn't a fanatic. He had taken everything about Rambaldi as a religion and he would do ever thinking possible to make his beliefs a reality. One of Rambaldi's particular prophecies involved Sydney. It was said that she would help destroy the world. Sydney had done everything she could to make sure that this particular prophecy didn't come true. As far as she was concerned, she had put all the Rambaldi things behind her. However, it seemed that, that was no longer the case. The tattoo that they saw on these people's hands was the symbol of Rambaldi; all his followers had one in the same exact position.

"So, you think these followers of Rambaldi are responsible for both break-ins?" Sydney finally asked.

"Seeing as how the things that were stolen were all the Rambaldi artifacts we had left, I'd say that is for certain. There's also another thing that concerns me, the information they downloaded and stole from the CIA, it was information about Rambaldi, Rambaldi and you." When Dixon finally finished with all he had to say, Sydney knew that she would have to go back in full time and worse yet, she would have to go back to Rambaldi.

Sloane paced in the library while he waited. When she finally arrived, she was carrying the database she had stolen from Langley.

"News?" she asked as she went to sit down and work on the database.

"I contacted Sark like you asked me to and after his shock that I was back, he agreed on the job and to keep my return a secret but I still don't know why you want me to do this. I should be shouting my return from the rooftops. It's not like they can stop me anymore?"

"Because you're a surprise for her and you know it." At that he couldn't help but grin.

"And what about you, I think you'll be more of surprise for her than me."

"That, I think, is obvious." Sloane and the girl were then silent for a few moments as she typed on the computer working on getting what she needed.

"You know, about this plan, how do you know she'll come?" Sloane asked.

"Please, of course she'll come, I laid out enough bread crumbs for even you to follow," she replied sarcastically.

"Funny," Sloane replied, "did you get all you wanted?"

"I will . . .in . . .a . . .minute, got it," she said and then she looked up at him, "as of right now, we have access to every ounce of information the CIA has, the tap I placed in their mainframe is doing its job."

"And you're sure they won't find it." She then gave him her 'how can you doubt me' look which he then replied.

"Point taken," She then went back to her work and Sloane waited.

"Don't worry, we wait now and when Sydney Bristow gets here, the real fun begins." Right then, her eyes got a small twinkle and her lips went into a small half grin. Sloane just watched her and contemplated.

Sydney and Vaughn walked into a briefing room at Langley and were greeted by friendly faces. Weiss, Marshall Flinkman and Rachel Gibson were all there. Marshall was the techno wiz who did all their inventions that they used in their missions. Rachel was a lot like Sydney in the fact that like her they had both been deceived into believing that they were working for the good guys. She had been a rookie that Sydney had taught when she was pregnant with Isabelle. Since then, she had become one of the best agents in the CIA. After their greetings, it was time to get down to business. They all sat around a large round table with Dixon in the middle. He went right into the situation and the video.

"As all of you know, we had a major break-in, in here and in the warehouse that housed the remaining Rambaldi artifacts. Now, we know these acts were perpetrated by the followers of Rambaldi but what we don't know is why," Dixon explained.

"Well, I suppose we can conclude that it has to do with Rambaldi and if it does, it can't be good," Weiss replied and from the look on everyone's face, they agreed.

"Yeah, we can all agree on that but with these two major breaks we have to assume that a new major player is in town."

"I thought we were done with Rambaldi," Rachel replied.

"Me too," Sydney replied and they all looked to her, they all knew the toll the search and knowledge of Rambaldi had cost her.

"Well, I think we all did, but I guess we were wrong, anyway, we have to find out who is behind this," Dixon explained.

"What about the girl from the video, she seemed important," Marshall replied.

"She maybe but she is just a kid and I don't know why she led the charge but that is just one of the many questions we have to find out."

"And how are we going to do that?" Vaughn asked.

"Luckily, while they were here they thought they would be smart and they left a tracer that once given to Marshall . . ." Dixon said and then he motioned to Marshall who continued with the rest.

" . . . .yes, well, first, I want to say how glad I am to be working with all of you again, especially you Syd, Vaughn, I've missed you . . ."

"Marshall," Dixon interrupted, getting him back on track and causing everyone there to smile as Marshall started to talk again.

"Yeah, sorry, anyway, this little thing," he held up a small chip so that they all could see, "this is a very advanced microchip, I mean, it's so advanced that I could hardly figure it out, but once I did, even I was amazed at the complexities of it, I've never seen anything like it." As he began to amaze at the small device Dixon seemed to get exasperated.

"Marshall," he said sternly, "what else did you find."

"Well, after some brilliant work on my part, I found a signal hidden inside that I was able to follow to the source so I got you a location." After that, he looked quite satisfied and so was everyone else. Dixon then took the helm and stood up.

"Okay, with that I believe a well armored strike team could go in and retrieve the intel we need."

"Where is this location and who's going with us?" Sydney asked, already knowing that she was going.

"Well, according to Marshall it's in Zurich." That information surprised Sydney and everyone else. Zurich was a place that Arvin Sloane used to have a foundation where he did one of Rambaldi's notorious plans.

"The team will consist of you, Vaughn, Rachel and Weiss while Marshall and I monitor you from here," Dixon finished and they all agreed. As they did, they got up to get what they needed. After they left the briefing room, Weiss caught up with Sydney and Vaughn.

"I bet you never thought you'd have to be back dealing with Rambaldi again," he said to Sydney.

"I suppose that goes to show you to never believe anything is over," Sydney replied.

"Hey, where are the kids?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, we have a security detail looking after them until this matter is settled," Vaughn replied and Weiss nodded. As they were walking, Sydney noticed Dixon up ahead being talked to by another agent and he didn't look happy. The agent walked away as they reached them.

"Dixon, what is it?" Sydney asked.

"We just had another break in," he replied.

"Geez, can anyone stop them?" Weiss asked.

"Where?" Vaughn asked.

"At one of our, 'prisoners don't exist' facilities, apparently they freed all the prisoners there."

"Who was there that we should be worried about?" Sydney asked.

"Well, there was a lot, most of which were prisoners we didn't want others to know we had just in case we could use their location to our advantage, one of them being Kelly Peyton."

"So, these prisoners, they're all free," Vaughn replied and Dixon nodded angrily.

"I want to know who's doing this and I want them stopped," Dixon stated and they all could agree to that.

To get to Zurich, they had to take a private plane. While they were on their way there Vaughn went to sit by his wife who was off by herself. She seemed to be contemplating a lot of things.

"Hey," he said as he got up to her and she looked up at him.

"Hi," she replied as he sat in front of her.

"How are you really doing with all of this?" he asked.

"What, you mean with all this Rambaldi stuff, I don't really know."

"I know how you feel about anything concerning Rambaldi. People's quest for him cost you a lot, your own father being one of them." At that Sydney just took a deep breath and let it out.

"So much happened to me because of him, I mean, not only my father, but those two years were a realm of their own. There were times when I didn't believe I'd get through it, but after the event with the Horizon I thought it was over, I hoped, it would be over." By the tone in her voice he knew how much she was hurting. With all that Rambaldi had cost her, he hoped that she wouldn't lose anymore.

"Whatever happens, we'll get through it, just like we always do," Vaughn replied and Sydney reluctantly nodded.

"I hope you're right but I can't shake this feeling deep in my gut that tells me that this is different than anything we have faced before and no one is going to get out of this unscathed." When she said that, she just looked ahead at nothing in particular with a look of dreaded anticipation.

_Zurich_

After touch down, they took a supplied black SUV to the facility. When they arrived, they got out covertly and decided what to do. It was decided that it was best to split up and take the building from different sides. Sydney was with Vaughn while Weiss went with Rachel and other agents. Sydney and Vaughn took the font while Weiss and Rachel took the back. There were no guards on the outside perimeter but with the type of building they didn't expect it. When they were in they made their way in silently.

"Dixon, we're in," Sydney commed.

"Good, keep us apprized," Dixon replied. As they got in, they found that there was no one around and that got them both thinking.

"It's too quiet, I don't like this," Vaughn said and Sydney definitely agreed.

"Wizard, are you sure there's no one in the immediate vicinity?" Sydney asked Marshall through her com.

"I'm sure Phoenix, I'm seeing no one on our sensors," Marshall replied.

"What is it Phoenix, is something wrong?" Dixon asked, trying to jump on her train of thought.

"I don't know, it doesn't feel right somehow." At that, Dixon, who trusted Sydney's instincts, decided maybe it wasn't enough to risk their lives.

"Okay, I say if you guys want to pull out, do it," he said but unfortunally all he got was static on the other end, which upon hearing he tired them again, "Phoenix, Shotgun, Oracle, come in, can anyone hear me?" There was still no reply and so he and Marshall looked at each other with looks of dread and worry.

Sydney tried to reach Dixon and Marshall but she got nothing, nor did Vaughn when he tried. That was when their own worry heightened. They were ready to make a getaway when all the lights came on. They illuminated a large empty room that they had just walked into. The room was circular with an overhang that looked like a stage up some stairs. Almost immediately after the lights came on, about a dozen people rushed in to surround them. They would have tried to find a way out of this predicament but one of the ones surrounding them spoke up.

"Don't think you can get away, we now have this building surrounded. Also, don't think that these people can save you either." After that was said, Sydney and Vaughn looked over to see Weiss, Rachel and the other agents brought in, no weapons and heavily guarded. Just as Sydney looked around at her captors two more people came in and these people were recognized by all. It was none other than Sark and Kelly Peyton who just grinned at them.

"Hello Sydney," Sark said and Sydney could tell he hadn't changed a bit. Sydney had first met him years ago during her time with SD-6. She had first met Peyton when she worked for Prophet Five. To see these two working together only added to their apprehension.

"What is this?" Sydney asked.

"Actually, I'm unclear, you'll have to ask my boss," Sark replied and then he looked up to the overhang where a figure slowly walked into their view. When the figure made their appearance known Sydney and the others felt that they could have dropped dead right on the floor. At the same moment, Sydney's fear, anger and hatred was heightened because on the landing she saw the last person she ever expected or wanted to see again and that was the plague of her existence, Arvin Sloane. He looked down at them and smiled so evilly that Sydney felt sick to her stomach. Everyone thought that he was dead but here he was alive and well. When last they met Sydney had shot him right in the head after he had shot her father. Sydney didn't know how or why he was here but here he was. The shock on all their faces was apparent and that just seemed to make him even more amused.

"No, you can't be here, you're dead, I shot you," Sydney said in disbelief.

"Unfortunally for you Sydney you couldn't be more wrong, thanks to the man who was Rambaldi I now will never die, I am immortal and there is nothing that can be done to stop me. The Horizon did its job, I am forever now." Sydney remembered the Horizon that Prophet 5 had tried so hard to get. Sydney also remembered what her mother had told her in their final battle about Rambaldi being all about life and now she finally understood. The Horizon was Rambaldi's ultimate goal, the goal for immortality. She would never have believed it if she hadn't seen Sloane for herself.

"I know, you can't believe it can you, it's okay, this is way over your small minds, I would love to fill you in on all of it or at least catch up with you but the boss has a lot of other things to say to you first," Sloane replied and they were confused.

"Wait, you're not the boss?" Sydney asked.

"Oh no," he said, "definitely not." Right then the girl from the video tape stepped forward to stand in front of him. No one knew what to say and so Sloane decided to speak up because the girl didn't look like she was going to say anything either. She just continued to stare at Sydney and again Sydney felt cold.

"I bet you're wondering what all this could be about, Sydney," he said and Sydney stiffened, "well to tell you the truth it's about you, although, not just about you, I guess, all of this was done because of you, at her request." Sloane then motioned to the girl who still stayed silent.

"Who are you?" Sydney finally asked, getting tired with having no answers. The girl then turned to Sloane and nodded to him.

"You really want to know Sydney Bristow . . . okay . . . well then, this is our leader, if you haven't guessed it already, the one who set up everything. You should know she was coming, it was prophesied by none other than Rambaldi himself, remember how it went Sydney, "this woman here depicted will possess unseen marks, signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works: bind them with fury, a burning anger. Unless prevented, at vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation." At that Sydney felt a dark pit in her stomach that was about to express itself even before Sloane finished what he was saying, "I'd like you to meet, Katairina . . . Ellena . . . Rambaldi." At that, it seemed like all the air rushed out of the room. Sydney herself could hardly breathe but it's as if the shocks kept coming. The girl grinned at her and their eyes locked. When they did, she said the two words that would haunt her forever.

"Hello mother."

After the major revelations, Sydney and the others were disarmed and locked up. They were guarded by the many Rambaldi followers in the facility. It was there that they waited. Sydney herself had to sit down. They were all there and none of them could believe what they had just heard.

"Do you think this is true, what they said, could she really be the daughter of Rambaldi?" Weiss asked as he looked to her.

"I remember reading something about a prophecy that could have been about Sydney, how did it go, I don't remember," Rachel began but before she could finish Sydney spoke up.

"Prophecy," she said, very straightforward and without much emotion. When she finished, they all just watched her for a moment before Vaughn said something too.

"There may have been a prophecy but we disproved it, you saw Mt. Subasio, isn't that what the prophecy said, none of this should have come true."

"Maybe, but I don't know . . ." she said and then trailed off.

"This is all so weird," Rachel replied and when no one said anything they all just stayed silent. It was right then that they heard people coming. They all looked to see Peyton and Sark come in. After they arrived, they stood in front of their cell.

"Sydney," Sark said, grinning, "she wants to see you." Sydney slowly got up and Vaughn stood beside her.

"Alone," Peyton stated.

"No," Vaughn replied back and right then, Sark just sighed and point a gun right at him.

"Alone," he said again as they glared at one another. Sydney put her hand on Vaughn's arm causing him to stand down. He then stepped back and Sydney came forward to follow Peyton out. Sark almost basically laughed at Vaughn who just glared angrily at him before he followed both women. He shut the door and it clanged hard leaving them wondering about what was going to happen next.

Sydney followed Peyton while Sark followed close behind. They led her to a small room where Peyton opened the door to reveal Sloane and the girl, Katairina.

"Thank you," Katairina said as she saw her enter, "you two can go now, keep an eye on our other guests while we chit chat." Both Peyton and Sark nodded to her before they both left and closed the door behind them.

"Well, this is an occasion," Katairina said as they did so.

"How are you here?" Sydney demanded looking to Sloane first and he laughed.

"You mean, why am I not rotting hundreds of feet underneath the ground in cold and silence thanks to you and your father?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess that's what I mean, that is where a rat belongs."

"Blazon as always aren't you Sydney, let's just say it was the hand of God," Sloane replied and he looked completely over taken that was when Sydney finally looked back at Katairina.

"Don't know what to say?" she asked as she noticed Sydney studying her, "that's okay, I'll do the talking, you probably think I'm a hoax, I mean, look at me, how can I be the daughter of you and the great Milo Rambaldi?"

"The thought did cross my mind."

"I bet it did and you know what, if I were in your position, with the loving family you've always wanted, why would you want to believe someone coming in to ruin everything you worked so hard to build. Especially when you thought that you'd left all of this behind you." As she talked, Sydney looked at her oddly which Katairina also noticed, "don't be so surprised, I know just about everything about you, I made sure I did before I made my presence known. Now that I did that, I can get down to business, I suppose to make you believe who I am I should make a few things clear, first I guess, my origins which is actually in my name. Katairina Ellena, a name I was given to symbolize the three women who are responsible, in their own ways, for my very existence. Then of course, there is my last name which I get of course from my father and through which I inherited strength and everything else that made him who he was." Sydney didn't have to think hard to know what she could have possibly meant by that. Rambaldi was a prophet, he could see things that were far beyond his time. From the things that they had in their possession she could only assume that the daughter of Rambaldi would have inherited such a unique attribute. It was, after all, the reason for everything.

"So, that is how you . . ." she began but Katairina beat her to it.

" . . . .how I managed to get into your highly secure building, yes, I knew you'd figure that out. You are smart and since you are, I hope you can see that fighting against us is futile, I'll give you one chance, join us, don't fight against me, because if you choose to try and stop me, I might consider you extremely stupid." They all then paused while Sydney contemplated everything that was said. When she had asked Sydney to join her, Sloane gave her a quick angry look. It seemed he didn't like that idea at all.

"What's your answer Sydney?" They locked eyes and Katairina gave a small smile, already knowing what she was going to say.

"No matter what you're planning or who you are, I would never do anything that could harm anyone and from everything I know of Rambaldi, anything associated with him is nothing but evil, so no." Once that was said, Sydney expected a reaction from her but she ended up getting nothing. They both remained as stone faced as they had ever been.

"Surprisingly, I knew what your answer would be before you even spoke and you know why, because I know you, of course, I wished you'd be smarter but maybe when I'm done, you will be." When she finished, hers and Sydney's eyes locked and it was Katairina who surprisingly looked away first. She then walked out of the door to reveal a guard standing outside. He saw her and immediately went to attention.

"Please take Mrs. Bristow back to her friends, while she still has them, maybe when you see the error in your ways you'll do what is right before things you can't even imagine come down to pin you." The guard then went and stood behind Sydney who didn't say anything else as she followed him out. When she was gone, Katairina turned to Sloane.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think we planted the seed but I know Sydney, she won't join you, she's too stubborn. Not that you should have even asked her."

"Don't start with me, I gave her the chance, if she doesn't take it that's her loss and she'll be tossed aside like the rest, to fulfill me and my father's vision." Sloane then took that time to look at his watch.

"It's almost time," he said and Katairina just looked around and sighed.

"Yeah, I know, everything is prepared, we should go."

"After you," he said motioning her past him and she smiled.

"Why thank you kind sir," she said as she walked past him and he followed her out and shut the door behind them.

Sydney thought about taking on those who guarded her making a break for it. However, it seemed Katairina did know her because she guarded her with too many people for even her to be able to get through. She was escorted back to her cell and when everyone saw her, they stood up. They were glad to see her alive and okay. She got in the cell and the door was closed behind her. Sark and Peyton were there still and they looked as smug as ever. They all then waited for a little while longer when Sark was contacted by cell phone. He went over to a corner to speak privately and when he finished, he hung up. He then sighed deep and joined them again.

"Okay, well, as much fun as this was, I'm sorry, but we have to go."

"What?" Vaughn asked as they all were unclear about why they would just leave them.

"Well, don't think that this is the last you'll see of us, we'll be around," Peyton said and then she turned to the others, "okay, let's go, move out." Everyone then left with Sark and Peyton taking one last look at their confused faces before leaving too. Soon after they left, Sydney and the others heard some noise. As the noise elevated they all looked toward the door which they saw was opened by heavily armed agents.

"Finally, we found you," the lead agent said as they let them out.

"How did you find us?" Sydney asked.

"We received a signal that led us here, from you."

"We didn't send any signal," Sydney replied. They all just looked confused.

"You don't think Katairina . . ." Weiss began.

"Did you find anyone else?" Vaughn interjected.

"No, we have a team searching the entire building and they say it's completely empty."

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense when they brought us here there were dozens of people here, how could they just vanish in so little time?" Weiss asked but no one had an answer to that.

"Maybe they knew we were coming if she did?" Rachel suggested.

"Actually, in our survey of the building we didn't find any surveillance equipment," the lead agent replied.

"If that's true, how did she know that they were coming?" Vaughn asked and again, no one had an answer, except Sydney who took a deep breath.

"Rambaldi," she said and everyone else just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

_Virginia_

They all got back to Langley alright and went right to it. Even though they found no people in the building, they did find a lot of files. Sydney and the others were all there and after debriefing Dixon they got right to going through it all.

"Does anyone else think it's weird that Katairina would leave all this behind for us to find?" Weiss asked as he helped go through it.

"How do you know it was her?" Rachel asked.

"Well, she does seem to be the one running things," Weiss replied, "which is weird in itself right, I mean, what is she, sixteen and she's running what we saw as a small army."

"Which only seems to reinforce the fact that she is the daughter of Rambaldi, the followers definitely believe so. She had to have done something to convince them she is who she says she is," Vaughn replied.

"Having all those followers also makes her dangerous so let's familiarize ourselves with anything we can," Dixon replied.

"Okay, before that though, can we get one thing clear, does everyone believe that she is who she says she is, is this girl Sydney and Rambaldi's daughter?" Rachel asked and everyone looked to Sydney who didn't look at anyone in particular.

"I don't know?" she asked. Before more could be said they were interrupted by Marshall who came in just in time to hear the last part. They watched him and saw that he looked like he had something important to say.

"What is it Marshall?" Dixon asked.

"As you know, we found a lot of things where you were all kept including a blood sample and I don't know if it was intentional or not but after analyzing it I found that it is unmistakably different than normal blood."

"Different how?" Sydney asked.

"Well," he began and then walked up to a big projected computer screen which he used, with the assist of a small remote, he activated it to show the microscopic blood sample, "as you can see, this sample has some foreign antibodies that were unidentified by anyone in the medical field I contacted."

"What does this mean?" Vaughn asked.

"It means that whoever this blood belongs to, they are not normal and I'm not just talking about the antibodies but look, you see here in the blood." They all looked closely and they could see small devices they didn't recognize them.

"Nanites and these are so advanced, I don't even know how they function, no one can as far as everyone concerned, these shouldn't exist yet."

"So, I'm guessing we don't need to wonder where that blood sample came from," Weiss said and they were all silent for a moment, "can we tell who the parents are from this sample?" Vaughn asked, finally.

"Well, yes actually, we can," Marshall replied and he paused just long enough for the anticipation to hit a high, "okay, we ran the test multiple times to be sure and what we came up with was that the DNA matched the sample of tissue we had of Rambaldi from the brief time it was in our possession those many years ago. So, Rambaldi is for sure, her father."

"And her mother?" Dixon asked casting a sidelong look at Sydney.

"Well, I pulled Sydney's own blood to match and . . ." he then looked to Sydney but she already knew what was coming, she just had to hear it out loud, " . . .according to the many tests, there is a 99.9% certainty that she is your daughter Sydney, I'm sorry." Once it was all out in the open no one said anything for the longest time. They were all too shocked and concerned to speak. Finally, Sydney seemed like she couldn't take anymore and she got up and walked out. Vaughn watched her go and then excused himself to follow her. She walked out of the room and sat a little ways away. He found her there and went to sit beside her. Neither said anything for quite some time after that.

"I thought I got them all, I must have missed one," Sydney said and Vaughn knew what she was talking about. Many years ago, when the Covenant had abducted Sydney and tried to brainwash her they also wanted her for something else. They believed in the prophecy about Sydney and their idea was the second coming of Rambaldi was at hand and would be realized through a child born of both Rambaldi and the Chosen One, Sydney. After finding all of that out Sydney had done all she could to stop it from coming true. These things included stopping the Covenant from finding the cube with Rambaldi's tissue in it and even going as far as erasing her own memory of the experience to hide its location. In the end, the Covenant had found cube and Sydney, along with a team, went to where the genetic splicing would happen. They had managed to stop them and destroy the samples they had but it was apparent now they had somehow failed.

"It wasn't your fault you know, you tried," Vaughn said.

"Do you think that it's fate, I mean, everything concerning Rambaldi has been about fate and even when I think I've beat it, something happens to prove me wrong, I just think I know nothing about Rambaldi and what he could really see."

"Look, I don't pretend to know anything about that either, but what I do know is that she is here, now, this has happened, so we, together have to deal with it."

"I don't even know where to start. I really miss my dad at times like this," Sydney said and she looked so lost that Vaughn knew he had to think of something which suddenly occurred to him.

"Remember when Katairina talked about her name and how it symbolized something Katya, Irina and Elena, the Derevko sisters, well, there is one sister still alive that may perhaps be able to clear things up for us." Sydney looked to him as if he were a genius and she smiled. Right then, Weiss came up to them.

"Hey, sorry to disturb you but we found something more," he said and they took a moment, looked at each other before taking deep breaths and getting up. They followed Weiss back to the room where everyone else was and they looked grim.

"What is it?" Sydney asked.

"Think Sovogda but worse," Dixon replied and they both shifted uncomfortably. All of a sudden, Sydney got her conviction back. Sovogda, Russia was possibly the worst Rambaldi experiment. Sydney's aunt Elena had built a giant Mueller device, another Rambaldi invention, there. It had turned the residents into crazed maniacs because they also drunk tainted water due to Sloane's own personal experiment. The city became a virtual war zone which Sydney and the others had gone into quell. They had but it hadn't come without a price.

"Well, I think it's time I go see my Aunt Katya," she said with her steel conviction and certainty.

Sloane opened the door to the room to find Katairina leaning over her desk gasping for air.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he saw her like this. Once she heard him come in she worked to get herself together.

"I'm fine," she said as she stood up straight and used a towel to wipe her forehead off of sweat.

"Are you sure?"

"What did you get for me?" she asked, skipping ahead and picking up some papers.

"Everything has been moved and is just waiting for your final assessment."

"Good, I'm ready, just one last thing to do," she said as she began to write something on the papers.

"Can I watch?" Sloane asked, a little excited. Katairina looked up and grinned a half smile at him. She knew why he wanted to watch her do what she was doing. He found it fascinating and she liked to see someone go gaga over it.

"For this one, sure," she said and Sloane walked over to her. He looked over her shoulder as she drew. When he was close to her he put his hand on her shoulder which she didn't shake off. He enjoyed this and he seemed very satisfied that he smiled to himself.

_Panama City, Panama_

Katya Derevko took a lot of pains to keep off the radar of anyone who could be considered her enemy which were many. That was why, when she walked into her small apartment and saw her niece Sydney Bristow and her husband Michael Vaughn sitting in her living room she was a little surprised. They all looked at each other for a very long moment with no one saying a word.

"Well, you're definitely the last people I expected to see in my neck of the words," Katya said.

"You know, it's taking every fiber of my being not to kill you where you stand," Sydney spat.

"But you know if you do that it would not only undo all the hard work your father did to secure my release but you'd also be killing the last surviving Derevko sister." Sydney knew that Katya thought she was right in her reasons of why Sydney was not going to kill her. In truth, she needed her and so she calmed down.

"Look Katya, we're not here for a social visit, we're here because we ran into someone," Sydney said slowly, "you and your sisters are good at keeping secrets especially about the daughter of Rambaldi." Katya could then visually look like she could have fainted. She was so taken back that she had to sit down.

"It can't be," she said as she did so.

"Oh, trust us, it can be," Vaughn replied and Katya smiled a small grin.

"So the time has arrived," Katya replied and that got Sydney angry.

"So you did know about her," she seethed just as Katya got up and walked over to sit right in front of her.

"Of course I did, all three of us knew of her," she began, "in actuality, bringing her into this world was the last thing we all did as sisters."

"I want to know everything, start from the beginning," she stated, trying to hold back her rage.

"Okay, I will, it all began when I found a tomb of a very well known follower of Rambaldi, said actually to be his closest friend and confidant. In the tomb was a perfectly preserved diary written in Rambaldi's own handwriting. As it turned out, it was his journal and what I could make out of it, Rambaldi wrote instructions to who he called the 'the circle of three.' Of course, I knew he meant me and my sisters because he made other references that were characteristic of us. Anyway, in the beginning he mentioned a vision that he had, had, one that he said meant everything to him. He said it came at a time when he had asked God to show him what his life meant and when he got the vision he believed they were signs from God. The vision, he said, mapped out the choices he believed he had to make. It also gave him a reason to live. He decided to do everything in his power to make this vision come true no matter what it cost." Sydney assumed the 'everything' he was talking about unfortunally meant nothing good for her.

"So Elena knew everything about this, you showed her it because you are the 'circle of three' sisters," Sydney replied and when Katya nodded she continued, "so, everything I went through with the Covenant, it was all because of this."

"Before either one of us could stop her, Elena decided on her own agenda which she put into action. When you disappeared your mother knew it was her so that was when she contacted your father and started helping him find you. She did whatever she could to help but Elena kept you quite hidden. After awhile, Elena managed to cut us out of everything but we were determined, especially me, but we'll get that later. We managed to find where the surrogate mother, that we had helped Elena locate, was sequestered. Surprisingly we found that the pregnancy was advanced, in his journal, Rambaldi also had a way for his daughter to be born quickly and safely. It was in that out of the way home, this one, where me and my sisters brought that sweet child into this world," she then looked if she was stuck in a daze, "I'll always remember it, it was raining hard, storming, as if the world knew what was coming. All three of us were there, but I was the one who delivered her, like I knew I had to. I was the first to look into those eyes. When she looks at you, it's as if she's staring right into your soul." Her and Sydney shared their own look just then and Katya stared deeper into her eyes.

"What happened afterward?" Vaughn asked, breaking them out of the stare. Katya got her own look on her face, she seemed to look ashamed.

"I never told even Irina this, but I knew I had to when I read about it in Rambaldi's journal. When I first found it and read it, it described what we had to do together but also what I would have to do alone. After she was born, he told me that me and me alone would have to get her away. I suppose, he knew what my sisters were like I guess, but this was the only time I ever betrayed Irina, but he told me it was the only way to keep her safe."

"So how did you do it?" Sydney asked.

"I had to wait until they were elsewhere, Irina and Elena, which wasn't hard because they fought all the time. I contacted the man written about in the journal and he came with some of his people. They never knew it was me and it worked. Since then though, I waited until she came back but I had just about given up hope that she ever would."

"So, you were wrong," Sydney replied and Katya smiled.

"Thank God, you have no idea Sydney," Katya replied.

"Why don't you explain it to me then!" Sydney demanded.

"She is your daughter and the daughter of possibly the most powerful man ever to exist, it was written in Rambaldi's journal that she would bring great change to the world."

"Where is this journal?" Sydney asked.

"Thankfully, after I had removed the pages concerning my role and destroying them, it was stolen by Elena and the last I heard it was in the possession of an expert on languages to help decipher what we couldn't read but that was a long time ago and I don't know where it is now." Since that was at the moment, out of their hands, they figured they'd move onto what they knew was more eminent.

"Okay, well, if she is meant to make great change, than it can't be good we have information that she has plans on creating what appears to be a more advanced Mueller device that won't need the contaminated water to do what the device in Sovogda was supposed to do," Sydney explained.

"So it will dial down their emotion, that's a good thing," Katya replied.

"It's never as cut and dry as that, we had our analysts go over the information and if they are exposed too long to it, they will become very susceptible to anything. If she is able to use it on the entire world we could have major problems. There is also the major problem of Sloane still being alive and working with her."

"Wait, Sloane's alive, how?"

"I don't know but he says it's because of Rambaldi and his quest for immortality but no matter what, they both have to be stopped and we're going to do it."

"I want to come to," Katya said and before Sydney could argue she continued, "listen, if you think you could come here and tell me that the girl I worked so hard to bring into creation and sacrificed so much for is alive and not expect me to come, you're wrong, besides, who knows, you might need me." Sydney then took a moment to get up and go to Vaughn to discuss.

"Bad idea?" she whispered to him.

"Probably but we could use her down the road."

"I know, but Katya is a Derevko and they don't do anything for anyone else but themselves," she replied.

"Well, that goes without saying but we will watch her," Vaughn replied and so she agreed and they both turned around to look to Katya.

"We should go," Sydney said, getting annoyed with her look. They all then got up and headed for the door but Katya had to ask something first.

"Sydney, what's her name?" Sydney then stopped and turned back to her.

"Katairina," she replied and Katya smiled at that. Sydney just turned away and went out the door.

On the way back to LA they got word that Dixon got back to them to tell them that they located the hotspot where the latest Mueller device was spotted. When asked where it was Dixon said the last place they expected. Apparently, Katairina had been in Zurich for a lot more than family reunion. Now that they had the location, they formulated a plan which they then took to Zurich.

_Zurich_

When they arrived, they went right to the heart of the city and sure enough there it was, as big as life. The Mueller device was basically a giant red ball floating in the sky full of a water like substance. A sub-sonic frequency is emitted from it which causes the desired effects. When they arrived they were met by Rachel, Weiss and a team of agents. Since they were prepared for what could happen they were able to not panic unlike the others in the city. Their goal was to get to the control panel of the device and shut it down but they knew it wouldn't be easy. They did a normal scan and found dozens of Rambaldi followers that they would have to get through. So, with their plan in place, they rushed the building. With their numbers they managed to get in with not much problem. When they finally reached the top, there was one more door to get through. Sydney went ahead and kicked in the door before anything else could happen. However, when she did, they found inside, Katairina, Sloane and about a dozen followers. They all had more weapons than Sydney and the others and so they had no choice but to lower theirs.

"Well hello again mother," Katairina said, grinning, "you know Sydney, I expected more of you, I thought with all your strengths and knowledge you'd have seen this coming, I know I did."

"I'll do better next time," Sydney replied. Inside, she was cursing herself. Katairina must have seen where they'd make an entrance. She realized how hard it would be to get the drop on someone who knew your moves before you even made them.

"If you get a next time," Katairina replied back and then she looked to them all before her gaze settled on Katya. Her gaze then fluttered back to Sydney.

"I have to thank you though mother, you brought me exactly what I needed," she replied and it didn't take Sydney long to figure out what she meant and she too looked at Katya.

"Wait, you brought us here because of Katya?"

"Actually, I did this little show to prove to you I am who I say I am and to tell you the truth, you brought yourselves here, you wanted to be heroes but you forgot one important thing."

"And what would that be?" Vaughn asked.

"I make all the rules here and never underestimate me again." When she said the last part she had a little venom in her voice and on her face that quickly dissipated, "anyway, Mr. Sark, Ms. Peyton, could you escort Ms. Derevko to my jet." With that, Sark and Kelly came forward from the ranks and stood in front of Katya. She took one look at Sydney and then Katairina before she followed them out. When they were gone, it just left them with Katairina and Sloane.

"What happens now?" Sydney asked.

"Now, we start the process and watch as the fun begins, that is, unless you've changed your mind about what we talked about earlier?" she asked but she knew it was still no, "you know, I bet you think you can stop this and I suggest you give it your best shot, but first . . ." Right then, she held out her hand to the follower next to her and he handed her a gun. She then pointed at Vaughn and fired before anyone could react. The shot hit him in the side. He went down just as Katairina handed the gun back to the follower. Sydney and the others went to Vaughn's aid as Katairina activated the frequency generator. Sydney looked from her bleeding husband to Katairina as she turned around.

"Well, now that you're busy, I'll leave you to it." The others followed her as she walked out. When they were gone Sydney stared down the guards who were left protecting the control panel. They had no weapons to use against them but with Vaughn bleeding she knew she would have to think of something. Weiss was in front of her and they locked eyes. An unspoken plan went on between them and so Weiss nodded. The moment when the followers lowered their guard Weiss was the first to act. He jumped up and took out the guard closest to him. During the fight one of the agents were killed but they managed to get the upper hand. Rachel managed to get to the generator and shut it down. When it stopped Weiss looked out the window to the giant ball floating ahead of them floating over the building next to them. When the device was shut down the ball lost its power and exploded into the water that went everywhere. Luckily, that building and the ground below had been evacuated. With the followers and the device taken out Sydney could call Dixon for a pick-up so that they could Vaughn to a hospital.

As Sydney sat in the waiting room she thought about how easy it had been to stop that Mueller device. Katairina had made it so easy, just to get Katya. She had said it was to prove that she was who she said she was. Well, she did unfortunally. She was contemplating these things when Dixon came up to her.

"How's it going?" he asked. She then filled him in on Vaughn's condition. The minute he had gotten there he went into surgery to remove the bullet. He was now in recovery and the doctor said that he was healing nicely. Dixon was happy to hear that but Sydney was still troubled.

"So, Katairina got away?" he asked and she nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll find her," she said and the way she said that, with a lot of anger, caused Dixon to be disturbed.

"Now hold on Sydney, don't go off half cocked because Vaughn got hurt, listen, we analyzed the device that was left behind and it was actually never supposed to do what we thought. It wasn't transmitting any signal. In truth, I think she set it all up for you to bring her Katya, which is weird, everything about this girl is a little off."

"It doesn't matter, are you saying we shouldn't go after her, I can't just let her go, she could have killed Vaughn."

"But she didn't and I'm not saying that, we just have to be smart about this, we've never dealt with someone like her before, at least, not a living person like her, we need to be careful."

"I agree but this isn't over, not by a long shot." Dixon could agree to this but he still wondered what was going to happen next. With this girl, he knew it could be anything.

_Italy_

Sloane just stood staring at Katairina as she worked. After the incident in Zurich they had gone back to one of Katairina's many safe houses. Katya was still with Sark and Kelly while Sloane had gone to Katairina to see what her next plan was. He didn't know when to ask her but decided to do it now when he began to get exasperated.

"What's going to happen next, now that you have Katya?" he asked.

"Phase two of course," she replied, quite happily.

"You seem happy considering as how I think you just made an enemy for life."

"Don't be so dramatic, besides, enemies are good, they keep you on your toes, you should know that. I know she will be mad but that's good, her anger will make her make mistakes and I can use her mistakes."

"You sound sure she'll make these mistakes?"

"I'm always sure and besides, if you expected me to get this over quickly you're wrong, this isn't over, not by a long shot."

"Just don't take too much time, use my experiences as a lesson, the longer you drag these things out, the more chance you leave yourself open to attack, if anything was to happen to you." At that, Katairina looked up to meet Sloane's eyes and she smiled.

"You do worry don't you?"

"You mean a lot to me, just know that, I've waited so long for this, for you, I know that now," he then took her by the shoulders, "don't ever leave me okay." The way he said that last part, with a mix of longing and utter desperation, she sighed.

"Never."

_**Part 2: The Capture**_

Katya Derevko, the last of the Derevko sisters, sat in her dark, dank room. She wasn't alone however, she was guarded by three Rambaldi followers. She had been there since she had been taken by the daughter of Rambaldi, Katairina, the very girl who she had helped bring into the world and protect. It was this reason why this was the one place Katya wanted to be. She didn't know what happened to her in her life but she intended on asking her the next time she saw her. Since she knew that she was alive, she was going to do what she had intended to do if she had her when she was born, which was anything she had to do for her. When at last Katairina came to her, she was happy to see her. Sloane was there too, he seemed to go everywhere with her.

"Now, what should I call you, exactly, auntie?"

"You can call me whatever you want," Katya replied.

"That's what everybody says, I guess I'll just call you Katya for now, and now that we got the pleasantries out of the way, you're going to help us."

"Anything you need."

"Oh, I do love it when people say that, now, down to business, you have contacts from a lot of different sources, I need those to which I have on this list." That was when she pulled out a piece of paper out of her back pocket and handed it to her. She looked it over and when she did her brow seemed to furrow.

"This seems very specific," Katya said.

"Well, with what I'm building I need things to be specific."

"And what would that be?" Katya asked and that caused Katairina to grin slyly at Sloane who grinned back.

"We'll let you in on that when you give us what we want but it's big and you can know that." Katya knew it was going to be big because everything associated with Rambaldi is big and very dangerous.

With the danger of Katairina and her followers out in the world Dixon and the others separated from their normal jobs to form a private squad that's sole job was to track and stop her advances. They had an office designated for them and it was located underneath CIA headquarters in Langley. Since this was the sole goal they all had their contacts looking for where she was now. She was good at staying off the radar and so it wasn't easy even with all their ears out there. Sydney herself was close to being obsessed in finding her. After what happened with Vaughn, her new focus was on stopping her. Those around her began to worry a little but they kept it to themselves because they knew that it was important. They still didn't know exactly how she felt about the fact that Katairina was her daughter. She didn't like to talk about it and so they didn't pressure her, neither did Vaughn. Currently, she was looking over a large map of the world that had been set up to track Katairina's movements. There were a lot of multi-colored tacks that symbolized the level in which the danger was. The tacks were placed in places that were hit by her and her followers. Sydney was trying to find a method to her attacks, some kind of pattern but she wasn't finding anything. She either wasn't seeing it or there wasn't one which she saw as less likely. She was standing in front of the map deep in thought when she sensed someone come and stand beside her. She didn't react when they did so but instead kept staring at the map.

"Find anything yet?" Vaughn asked but she shook her head.

"She's good, there's no doubting that, I just need to keep looking at this map, maybe I can see something that no one else can seeing as how . . ." she then trailed off and didn't say anymore. Vaughn wondered if he should say what he was thinking and in the end he decided to.

"Because she's your daughter," he replied and like before, she remained silent.

"I have Isabelle and Jack and I love them."

"No one is contesting that but we've already proved that Katairina is your daughter too and so you're going to have to deal with that eventually."

"I know what I'd like to do, she shot you Vaughn, I can't just let that go," she replied with a little venom in her voice.

"Easy Sydney, don't let what she did to me distract you, it's probably what she wants."

"How can I not, we know almost nothing about her, we need to find something, anything to help us in understanding her better."

"Well, everything we've thought about has just brought us nothing so unless we find something soon, she's just going to keep doing what she's doing and we won't be able to stop her," Vaughn replied and when he said information, something occurred to Sydney but she knew it could be a long shot.

"Information is what we need right. Remember the journal of Rambaldi's that Katya told us about. If we had that, maybe we could get an insight on her. Katya did say it was his own words."

"Where is it then, didn't Katya also say that it was stolen."

"Yes, but something as important as that shouldn't be that hard to find, we can start at the linguist she said she gave it to and go from there," Sydney explained that and it seemed reasonable and so they got to work on that.

They worked and managed to get a list of linguists who specialized in obscure languages. They then narrowed down the list some more until lastly, there was one name on the list. That man was Ivan VanHoestra who currently resided in London. He was an expert in unusual texts and upon further research they found out he was an avid Rambaldi follower. Due to that, he spent a lot of his life learning all he could about him and his native tongue. It seemed logical that Katya would have gone to him to get the text deciphered. When they knew all of this, they decided that only Sydney and Vaughn would go make contact with him just in case.

Katairina was talking with Sloane when Sark came in and they both looked to see him enter.

"What is Julian?" Katairina asked.

"You wanted to be kept apprised on Sydney's movements, well, from our tap at the CIA, we found out that both Sydney and Vaughn are going to London to visit someone they believe has a journal written by Rambaldi himself." That information got Katairina's attention.

"Really," she said and then she thought to herself, "assemble a team, we're going too."

"Wait," Sloane replied which just caused Katairina to stare at him.

"Anything that belongs to my father belongs to me."

"I know, but we're too close to the end of the project, you should stay here, I'll go in your stead." After a little thought she finally agreed. She knew that Sloane was right and so she told him to go and to take Sark with him.

_London, England_

As Sydney and Vaughn walked into the museum where Ivan currently worked, they went over their aliases in their minds. They were going in as a couple of appraisers. VanHoestra worked in antiques and that was where they headed because a new shipment had come in that needed their professional eye. Upon entering, they were sent to the front desk where they introduced themselves. As with any mission they were ready to expect anything. However, they were always a little taken back when something unexpected happens. Such was the case when the secretary at the front desk heard their names and said.

"Oh, yes, Mr. VanHoestra is expecting you."

"I'm sorry, we didn't call ahead," Sydney replied and the secretary just seemed to blink and then look back at the papers.

"Well, Mr. VanHoestra wrote here in his schedule that two individuals would be here, at this time and he wrote it here a few weeks ago so I'm sure he was expecting you." They both heard her and even though it made them more apprehensive, they just nodded and asked where his office was. When they stood outside his office they paused before going in.

"This could be a trap," Vaughn suggested.

"Set up a few weeks ago when he wrote it in his schedule and then had his secretary mention it to us before hand, I don't think so, something about this is odd, we need to find out what." She said that and then reached for the door handle. It swung open to reveal a large room with books all around, two doors on the sides with a large desk in the middle. Sitting at the desk was who they looking for and when he heard them enter he looked up. He didn't look surprised and actually looked at them as if he knew them.

"Hello Sydney," he said and again, they were shocked that he knew who she really was, "well, come in, don't just stand there, I won't bite." He seemed harmless enough and he was only one and they were two so they entered the room and went to sit in front of him. The whole time they were doing this he never took his eyes off Sydney. When they were finally seated he seemed very happy.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to meet you in person Sydney," he said and by the confused look on both their faces he figured he'd elaborate, "you're probably wondering how I knew you were coming, well, let's just say Rambaldi told me."

"What did you say?" Sydney asked and he went into one of his desk drawers to take out a large leather book. He then got up and went over to Sydney to hand it to her. She took it and slowly looked at it. Right on the front in big bold letters was the name Milo Giacomo Rambaldi.

"Is this what I think it is?" Sydney asked as she looked up to Ivan.

"Yes, this is the personal journal of the great prophet Milo Rambaldi."

"But I thought this was stolen after it was given to you?"

"Yes, well, that is what I made Elena believe. Once I had it and deciphered what I could, I knew I had to keep it from her, something like this, it's too important. It had to be protected until you showed up to take it, like it said. This will help you, along with this." He then went to his desk and picked up a manila folder that he also handed to Sydney.

"What is this?"

"The answers you seek," he replied, "know this Sydney, her life is a journey, as is yours, and soon both of your journeys will lead you together, so you must be prepared." Sydney knew who he was talking about and so they both shared a look with each other. Soon though, he blinked and then looked towards the door. He suddenly seemed in a hurry and got up which they did too.

"You have to go now."

"What, why?" Before he could answer there was a commotion outside the door. Hearing this, they understood his hurry. Something was happening and they didn't know what it was. They both started to get ready to face whoever was coming, but Ivan stopped them.

"No," he said, you cannot fight, you must run."

"Why, who is it?"

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is that you get out with that book, it is the only way to stop what's coming." They didn't know what he meant but they knew he was serious. He then led them to one of the doors.

"Wait, what about you?"

"Don't worry about me, my destiny is set. Now whatever happens, do nothing." He said that right before he closed the door. As the door closed, they stopped it from closing all the way so they could peak and see what was happening. They stood to watch as the door opened to reveal Sloane and Sark walk in with three followers bringing up the rear. Ivan saw them but didn't react.

"I'm assuming you're the man we're here to see," Sloane said.

"Arvin Sloane."

"You know me?"

"Oh yes, you were written about many times in Rambaldi's journal."

"Good, so you have the journal, where is it?"

"Where you'll never find it."

"We'll see about that."

"You know Sloane, you'll never get what you're truly after, you've fulfilled your part in Rambaldi's plan, as far as her path goes, it does not involve you." Sloane just grinned manically and laughed a little.

"You can think that but there are many paths and I'm the one who can choose which one to take for me and her because thanks to Rambaldi's vision, I am the one who cannot be stopped." To prove his point, he nodded to Sark who handed him a gun. Once he had it, he wasted no time in shooting his hand. The bullet went right through him and blood splattered all over the floor. He didn't even flinch as it happened. Right before everyone's eyes, he lifted it up so that they could see the hole that went right through his hand. Then, everyone saw as it miraculously began to heal. It did so quite quickly that if they blinked, they would have missed it. Sydney and Vaughn were shocked but when they glanced at Ivan, he wasn't shocked, instead, he just looked annoyed.

"I know what you are Sloane, no need for showmanship with me. It doesn't change anything, your destiny cannot be denied any more than mine." This time, it was Sloane's turn to be annoyed but soon relaxed and took a deep breath.

"Well, I guess, since you don't have what I need than you are no use to me so that would mean your destiny lays at the end of a bullet."

"Maybe so," Ivan replied and when they locked eyes one last time, Sloane took the gun he had in his hands and pointed it at him before firing. As he went down it took all of Sydney and Vaughn's willpower not to intercede but they heard his voice in their heads to not interfere. Instead, they took the book and got out of there.

When Sloane reported back that they didn't get the journal Katairina was visibly upset. Although, after some thinking she turned to Sloane.

"Time for a change of tactics," she said, very firmly and Sloane wondered what she meant.

Once they got back to Langley they had their own linguists work on Rambaldi's journal. They were helped by the contents of the manila folder which were VanHoestra's notes on what he had already deciphered. Also in the folder were CD's that she took to watch with everyone else. She took with her the rest of the contents of the folder which were some files that were not his notes. These files were about a man named Sebastian Kane who was a devout Rambaldi follower and the more Sydney read the more he seemed like a psychopath. He believed Rambaldi to be a god in human form. As she read more an interesting fact came to her attention. Apparently, after Elena had given Katairina away, Kane had tracked her and managed to get her away from her keeper. He believed it was his destiny to learn the true nature behind the prophecies. He also made it his mission to do whatever was necessary to do this. More of the files turned out to be tests that were run on Katairina when she was a child. None of them were pleasant and later, they moved to the CD's which just seemed to be a visual record of the tests done on her. The CD's were long and held a lot of information. They went through them one by one. Each CD was labeled by year all the way to year ten. Before the age of five there were just tests on her physiology. It wasn't until she was six did the physical tests began. With what her father could do, Kane assumed that she could do the same thing. What he didn't know was how to trigger a vision and so he figured he had to stimulate her. Not knowing how to do that, he tried everything he could think of. None of them were pleasant and the next got worse after the first. There was electroshock and there was also times when she was completely deprived of other stimuli. All of her senses were cut off hoping to stimulate her extrasensory perception. This went on for years and at times it looked like Katairina was pushed to the breaking point and she was just a child then. There was one particular time during her eighth year where Kane was trying out a new creation of his. He placed sub-dermal electrodes the sides of her head and when the device that it was connected to activated, electric shocks were transmitted through to her. Every time it was activated, she was jolted and cried out in pain. Her cries though, didn't alleviate Kane's attacks on her. He kept at it and the more and more she cried out, the more Sydney began to get upset. When the voltage was increased because it wasn't working and Katairina's cries got even fiercer, Sydney realized she couldn't take it anymore.

"Shut it off!" she said loudly and that got everyone's attention. Dixon, who held the remote, came to his senses and shut it off. They all then took a few moments to mull over what they had just seen. Finally, Rachel spoke up.

"How could they do that to a child?" she asked, horrified.

"How could she have survived all of that?" Weiss chimed in.

"I think she's stronger than we think," Dixon replied. These words seemed to get to Sydney but she remained silent. She didn't know what to say, she was just too horrified.

"I think we should watch the last session," Vaughn suggested and Sydney took a deep breath.

"Me too," she said and so Dixon went to the final year. She was being escorted in when she reacted. She broke free of them and that was when they noticed she had a small device in her hand. Once she was fully away from them, she pushed a small button on it. All of a sudden all the electrical things around them surged at the same time. This surge sent out a shock wave of energy that knocked everyone standing off their feet. Everyone watching the tape were shocked to see something that small cause that much destruction. Once they were down, Katairina made a getaway. However, as she made her way out the door she was grabbed by Kane and on instinct she grabbed a sharp implement, a scalpel, and jabbed it into his hand. He recoiled in pain which gave her time to get out. That was where the tape ended because it suddenly went static. They thus shut it off themselves and then started to figure on what they could do next. They knew they just had to find her and so that was what they got back to. Sydney, however, now had other things that she had to think about and all was troubling.

They later got word that some Rambaldi followers had been captured on one of their raids. This was a big break for them. It meant they had someone to interrogate. The followers were transported to a holding facility and they went to have a chat with the leader of the raid. When Sydney and Vaughn got to the holding facility, the leader, a guy named Taylor Mathews, was taken to one of the interrogation rooms. When he saw them, he didn't react at all. He was brought in, set down and handcuffed to the table. The guard then left so that Sydney and Vaughn could be alone with him.

"Well, is this the torture part of my interrogation," he smirked.

"We don't torture people, that's not our style, we are here for you to give us information on what Katairina is doing and where she is," Sydney replied and he couldn't help but smile.

"You know, it must be maddening for you not knowing where your daughter is at this hour." There was then a long pause.

"So you know."

"Oh, there isn't one of us who doesn't know who you are, you're kind of famous."

"What can you tell us about Katairina," she said and for a moment he just stared at her. Finally, he decided to speak.

"If you find her, what would you do, take her home and make cookies."

"I want to help her," Sydney said and that caused him to once again look at her, for a long moment.

"She's special, she deserves everything she wants."

"And what does she want?" Vaughn asked.

"I'm not her, how would I know."

"Can you tell me where she is?" Sydney asked again. He seemed to study her face while remaining silent.

"You are her mother and so I guess you deserve a chance to at least talk to her but you can't hurt her."

"So, you'll just give us her location, just like that?" Vaughn asked.

"No, not just like that, besides, I'm not telling you, I'm telling Sydney, when she knows, she can decide what to do, go, don't go, it's her daughter, it's up to her." Sydney then stared long and hard at him while at the same time Vaughn just looked uncomfortable.

"Tell me where she is," she replied and Taylor smiled.

Upon finding out Katairina's location, Sydney was eager to go straight there. Dixon was hesitant but he knew that surprise was everything and it wouldn't be probable for her to see them coming now. If they could capture her, it would be a big victory for them. According to Taylor, Katairina made regular excursions for relaxation at a club in Bucharest. In luck, she preferred to go alone and 'unwind.' They saw this as a perfect time to act. So, with all that planned, they decided to send in Sydney, Vaughn and a special ops team. Once it was all set, they got on a plane.

_Bucharest, Romania_

The club was called _The Accent_ and when they arrived they split up with Vaughn and Sydney going in the front, with aliases. The club was packed and so it was easy for them to blend in. There was no immediate sign of Katairina and so they found some breathing room at two ends where they could search but they kept in touch via ear piece.

"You see her?" Vaughn commed.

"No," Sydney replied as she too looked around. They continued to search when they noticed some people in the area start moving really fast. Sydney gazed over to the entrance to see that Katairina had finally arrived. Once she entered, she seemed to be surrounded by others who seemed to get her whatever she wanted. She seemed to be known to a lot of those around which wasn't a surprise. Taylor had said that she came here a lot. They watched her as she made her way towards the bar. After a few drinks and conversations, she made her way to the dance floor where she danced quite provocatively with many different guys. Sydney watched her as she did her thing. The more she looked at her and took in her features, she saw that she did look a lot like herself. Her eyes were the only thing that seemed completely different, Sydney was guessing that her eyes came from her father, from Rambaldi. That seemed to unnerved her, but she kept in mind what she had to do.

"I got her in my sights, when do we make our grab for her?" Sydney asked over their headset.

"We need to be careful, we can't afford to miss this opportunity," Vaughn replied and she agreed, so they waited. After some time of her partying, she seemed like she had, had enough. She made her farewells and slunk off the dance floor. It was then that Sydney and Vaughn began to follow her.

"Okay, she's heading for the door, strike team get ready," Sydney commed and then the ops team went to mobilize. When she walked outside, she came face to face with the team. She saw this and stopped in her tracks. Her head then turned behind her where Sydney and Vaughn were located.

"Oh, someone's getting in big trouble," she said as she sighed very deeply.

Dixon put everyone on high alert when Katairina's caravan arrived. Things were set up for her arrival, computers were turned off and everything was put under lock down. When he got word that they were coming, he and the security contingent at ready. They were outside waiting by the elevator door when it opened. When it did, there were security with Sydney and Vaughn surrounding Katairina who was in the middle. She had a full set of handcuffs that were around her wrists and ankles. They were taking no chances as she was led out of the elevator and to the cell they had for her. As she walked through the office everyone watched, a lot of them, in awe. They all knew who she was and what she could do which was the cause of their amazement and some of them, their fear. As Katairina walked in, she looked around the room to notice all the looks she was getting. These seemed to amuse her and Sydney, who was walking besides her, noticed.

"I almost think I should yell boo," she said, but Sydney just shook her head. She was then led to her cell. Her restraints were then removed and the door shut.

"So, here we are, I bet you're all thinking you've achieved quite a score, but let me tell you, you haven't. I'll be missed and when I am, well, you'll see."

"Well, until then, you're here, you're going to answer a few of our questions," Sydney replied and Katairina actually laughed out loud.

"Oh yeah, that's rich and very, very bold I might say."

"Is that your way of telling us you're not going to talk?" Dixon asked.

"Depends on what you want to know and when I say 'you', I mean only you . . . mom."

"Why?" Vaughn asked and she glared at him.

"Because I don't like you, granted, I don't like Sydney either, but we have ties and I prefer her, but if you don't want any information then you can stay, either way is okay with me." Dixon then decided to order everyone, but Sydney, out and they did. Vaughn, however, lingered for a moment. Sydney gave him an encouraging look which he saw just before leaving.

"Well, we're finally alone," Katairina said.

"Yes, alone, so talk," Sydney replied.

"It must make you feel pretty good, seeing me on the other end of this conversation, last time we were in these positions I was the one interrogating you, you must feel powerful now."

"Power isn't everything."

"Says you, but those without the power usually say that, so, what do you want to know?" The questions whirled in Sydney's mind, she didn't know where to start and so she decided to start at the beginning.

"We found some files, a sort of visual record of your first years."

"Of mine, really?" She pretended to be shocked, but she was grinning.

"Do you remember Sebastian Kane?" she asked and right then, there was a moment where a look of complete anger came over her. It quickly disappeared but that didn't stop Sydney from noticing.

"He's kind of hard to forget?" Katairina asked.

"The tapes showed us a lot."

"I bet, well then I guess you know how I spent the first ten years of my life, that was until I dealt with that psycho."

"Yeah, I saw that, but what I want to know is what happened after."

"I'm sure you do, okay, here it goes then, after my very unfortunate childhood and my miraculous escape, I ran, got as far away from anything and anyone. I spent the next few years trying to find out anything I could about myself. Kane didn't really make it a priority to keep me informed on who I was, he was more interested in what I could do."

"And what would that be?"

"You know, I was wondering how long it would take you to get to that, let's just say that it's good for others but quite painful for me."

"Meaning?" Sydney asked but right then they were interrupted by a door opening. When they looked over to see who it was, they saw Vaughn.

"Sorry Syd," he said, "but Dixon needs us." Upon hearing this, Sydney looked back to Katairina who just stared defiantly back at her. When she finally left and the door shut, Katairina watched them go and a hint of a smile crossed her face. She looked up to see the camera that was watching her. She thus turned around so that the camera couldn't see her face. She pretended to appear normal as she brought her plain wrist up to her face.

"Are you hearing me?" she asked.

"Loud and clear dear," Sloane's voice said in her head, "you all set?"

"Oh yeah, by the time I'm done with Sydney, she won't know if she's coming or going."

"Don't divert a lot from your true goal."

"I'm not, don't worry, I can still have a little fun while I'm at it though."

"I know you know what you are doing but be careful."

"I will and it's almost time, so I better go."

"Are you going to be okay?'

"Oh yeah, sure, there's nothing like blind numbing pain to wake one up in the morning."

"Can we risk giving them something they could use against us?" Sloane asked.

"We'll have to risk it, besides, anything that they learn will be insignificant in the grand scheme."

"Let's hope so, good luck." Her internal comm then went silent and she sighed. With that done, she turned back to the camera and grinned at it.

Sydney walked out of the cell and went with Vaughn to meet Dixon.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We've checked the channels and our contacts tells us that since we caught Katairina, there has been no word that they know she is missing."

"Don't you think that, that's odd, I mean, she's their leader and yet they don't notice she's missing?" Weiss asked.

"Well, maybe not, according to Taylor, she goes on these excursions and disappears for days with no one to come looking," Sydney explained.

"And we can trust him, he could be lying?" Rachel replied.

"Maybe, maybe not, but he said these trips last three days so I guess we'll know when that marker ends," Sydney finished.

"Perhaps, but something about all of this doesn't sit well," Vaughn replied.

"It wouldn't but that can't stop us, we need to get as much information from her as we can in the time we have her," Dixon replied, "and we need to be careful."

"I'll watch her," Sydney replied and then she walked out to finish the interrogation. When she was gone, Dixon turned to Vaughn.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked him.

"Irina." Vaughn replied.

"We can't let it end the same way, we have to be careful, watch Sydney, she may make her gruffs now, but she's still her daughter."

"Don't worry, I'll watch her." Dixon nodded and before either could say something else, Sydney rushed in.

"Something's wrong," she said urgently and they all rushed into the cell to see that Katairina had collapsed. She was on all fours on the ground and was breathing heavily.

"What's wrong with her?" Dixon asked.

"I don't know," Sydney replied.

"Open the door," Dixon ordered the guard who went towards the door.

"Careful, she could be faking," Vaughn interjected. When they finally got the door open, Sydney went in while the guards stood waiting just in case it was a trick. When Sydney got to her, she could see that she seemed to be having convulsions. They all stood back to watch her. They didn't knowing what to do. After a few long moments, she returned to normal and when she did, she put her head in her hands. She groaned in pain as she slowly got up. Upon seeing Sydney there, she seemed a little shocked.

"Are you okay?" Sydney asked, very sincerely to which she seemed even more shocked. Upon looking at her, her face actually softened a bit, but only for a moment, before going back to her usual demeanor.

"Oh, I'm just dandy," she said.

"Okay, what was that?" Sydney asked.

"What do you think it was?" she asked as she wiped some sweat off her forehead. They, of course, knew that it could have been only one thing. She was the daughter of Rambaldi after all.

"So, you saw something?" Sydney asked. Soon, it was obvious that she wasn't going to tell them whatever she saw. So, Sydney looked to the others who nodded to her and left, leaving Sydney alone with her daughter once again.

"It's okay, you don't have to say what you saw."

"I'm so happy," she said sarcastically.

"Why are so sarcastic all the time?"

"It's just my way I guess, anyway, why should you care."

"I care." Katairina suddenly blinked really quick.

"Do you, or do you just feel sorry for me."

"No, it's not that." When the two of them looked at one another they each seemed to pause for a few long moments. As Katairina looked at her mother she seemed to have feelings that she never had before. Part of her liked it but a big part of her didn't, so she shook it away. She had to stick to her plan, she had to get Sydney to lower her guard, not her.

"So, you care . . . . .about me, is that what you're saying." Sydney hesitated which just gave Katairina the satisfaction that her plan was working. Just before Sydney could say anything else, there was a rap on the door.

"Oh, so many disturbances," Katairina joked. They all saw an assistant come in to tell Sydney that Dixon wanted to see her. After nodding to them, they left with Sydney following him out. However, just before she left, she turned slightly back to Katairina.

"Yes, I do," she said. When she was gone, Katairina paused again and that feeling got strong once again. This time, it was harder to push back down.

Later, Sydney, Vaughn and the others were again in the briefing room discussing the recent information they had gotten from Katairina. She had been forth coming with a lot which just made Vaughn in particular, very nervous. He continually made it clear how he felt, but they all knew they had to continue with this. So, at the moment, they were sorting through the info they had already gotten. While they were doing this, an assistant came in and whispered in Dixon's ear. As he did, Dixon's eyes narrowed. He then nodded to the assistant who left so that Dixon could turn to them all.

"They're here," he said, but no one knew who he was talking about. It wasn't until they all got up and left the room did they see Kendall, the director of special research had arrived, the DSR had been started up again when Katairina made her appearance known. They were created to study Rambaldi and ever since they found out about Katairina they were trying to locate her. When Sydney and the others had finally caught her, they had been pushing to be involved but Dixon had managed to keep them at bay. At least, until now, Kendall was here and with him he had a few of his companions. When they all saw Dixon and Sydney, they came up to them.

"What are you doing here?" Dixon asked, sternly.

"I think you've stone walled us long enough, we want access to her, now," Kendall replied.

"We haven't ascertained everything she knows yet," Dixon replied.

"Who knows how long that'll take which is why I went over your head." Right then, Kendall took out a folded piece of paper which he gave to Dixon. He opened it and read it, all the while narrowing his eyes more and more.

"Are you kidding me?" Dixon said as he finished reading.

"Dixon, what is it?" Sydney asked.

"This is an order of temporary of custody of a minor due to extreme threat to national security."

"What ass pushed this thing through?" Sydney asked.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that we're here to take her into our custody."

"I'm gonna check this out first," Dixon replied.

"Do what you wish but while you do that we'd like to see her."

"Fine, Sydney," Dixon said and he motioned to her and she knew what he wanted her to do. She thus reluctantly went towards Katairina's cell with everyone following. As she went, she just hoped that Dixon could find a way out of all of this. Sydney went first into the room and as they entered, she looked to them. When Kendall and the others saw her they seemed to pause for a few long moments. They all seemed in awe of her and she knew it.

"What, am I a tourist attraction now?" she asked and with that Kendall seemed to come to his senses.

"Sorry, I'm Director Kendall head of the Department of Special Research and we've been waiting a long time to meet you, we are great admirers of Rambaldi."

"Well, good, everyone should admire my father, he was a great man."

"Yes, your father," Kendall replied and he looked like he wanted to finish a thought but was holding back. Katairina however, decided she would finish for him.

"Yes, my father and yes, I do take after him if that is what you wanted to know, just ask Sydney if you don't believe me." At that, they turned to Sydney who sighed.

"Earlier, we believe she had a vision, or at least, what looked like one."

"Really," Kendall said, more excited than Sydney liked, "what did you see?"

"I guess you'll have to wait for my memoirs," she replied and Kendall stopped smiling and became serious again.

"I guess it doesn't really matter, yet, I've come to tell you that you've been transferred into our custody." Katairina didn't seem shocked at that, instead, she just grinned.

"Well, I guess you drew the lucky straw."

"You will come with us and then you will tell us what we need to know." With that, Kendall took one last look at both of them before going out the door.

"I'm sorry, we're trying to stop them."

"It's okay, I'm used to people wanting me for what I can do for them and doing whatever they can to have it for themselves despite the consequences to me."

"Well, we're going to do whatever we have to, to stop it, I promise." Sydney then left and Katairina turned away from the camera.

"Sloane," she said into her wrist, "they've come as I've suspected, get ready."

The arguing began soon after that between Kendall and Dixon's group. While they did this, Katairina got her plan into action. To get started she knew that she would need something sharp. She looked around her confinement and her eyes fell upon the bed which had springs that she could use. So, knowing that the camera was watching, she sat down and worked on it as fast as she could. It did take awhile but she finally managed to loosen one of the springs and take it out. Now, came the hard part because when she was captured everything she had on her was confiscated. She knew they would do this and so she knew that she would have to improvise. So, once she had her sharp implement, she had to use it. She took one end and sat with her back to the bed. Unbeknownst to the camera she began cutting into the skin of her side until she was able to remove what she needed from underneath her skin. She cringed a little but had to keep a straight face. Once it was out, she wiped it off and, fighting through the pain, began phase two.

Sydney couldn't believe it, but Dixon had tried everything he could to get out of it but Kendall's order was sticking. With the last word given, he planned on leaving with Katairina as soon as possible. There was nothing that they could do about it either. Kendall knew that too, which was why he told his men to get her. Sydney went with them when they finally decided to get going while everyone else waited.

When they all walked in, Sydney hung back while one of Kendall's men went forward with the hand cuffs. Katairina was standing in the middle of the cell and glaring at them.

"I'm sorry, we tried everything, but they're here to take you with them," Sydney said to her daughter.

"I see," Katairina replied and then the guards began to come in to cuff her. When the guard opened the cell door, Sydney caught sight of some blood that was on the floor of the cell. She was about to say something but she didn't have the time. Once the guard went into the cell and got close to Katairina, she reacted quickly. She grabbed him by the neck and kicked him hard in the side. He went down and Sydney was about to go for her but she jumped up to grab the top horizontal bar above the door. She held on and swung out to kick her which caused her to fly backwards. When she was down, Katairina turned her attention to Kendall. He did look a little scared and Katairina enjoyed it. He had no way to defend himself as she sauntered up to him with a gun in hand that she had taken from the fallen guard. He thought that this was the end, but she just smiled.

"Oh don't worry, you're small meat compared to what I'm after," she said that just before she elbowed him to knock him out. He went down and she made her way out. She opened the exit door right into the bustle of people in the office. It took only a moment for them all to see her and be in shock. Before they could do anything she got into the room, whipped out her device and activated it. As it booted up, it sent out a shock wave that hit everyone. It made them all feel as if their extremities were on fire. They fell, not being able to support their own weight. Katairina then went passed them to her true goal, the computers. She had to work fast, the damage she did to their cerebral cortexes wouldn't last very long. She sat down at one of their computers to hack into their database. She got in and found exactly what she was looking for. All this trouble wasn't going to be for nothing, she was going to make sure of that. She downloaded what she needed onto a portable drive which she pocketed. She got up and turned her head to those on the floor. They stared up at her but were still unable to move.

"When will you all learn, you can't beat me and you definitely cannot keep me from my father's work."

Sydney came back to her senses and looked around to see everyone else unconscious. Wasting no time, she got up and made her way out.

Katairina was walking out when she came upon Vaughn who looked up at her angrily.

"Oh, don't give me that, if anyone should be mad, it's me at you, you almost screwed up my plan and that would have been unpleasant." She then kicked him hard in the gut before knowing that she had to leave. So, she looked around one last time and then went towards the elevator.

Sydney made her way out just in time to see Katairina enter the elevator. She then looked around to her fallen comrades. Dixon was closest and so she got to his side first. He was just beginning to move when she reached him.

"Are you okay?"

"She hit us with something, we couldn't move, where is she?"

"She's getting on the elevator, you have to go after her."

"Are you sure?" she asked and Dixon nodded, so she got up and made her way towards the elevator. She rushed up the stairs as fast as she could but feared she'd be too late. When she finally made it to the top, she found the outside office the same way as Dixon and the others. They all seemed to be okay so she looked ahead and she saw Katairina at the revolving doors. Sydney wasted no time in chasing her. Just as she reached the door and went out it, she saw a van pull up. When Katairina reached it, the door opened to reveal Sloane and Peyton with Sark driving. As Katairina was helped in by Sloane they all saw Sydney. It was Katairina who locked eyes with her. They held this gaze for only a moment before the door was closed and the van sped off leaving Sydney angry and helpless.

In the van, Katairina sat down and they all waited for her report.

"Did you get it?" Sloane asked and Katairina handed him the hard drive.

"Of course."

"Was this all you could get, what about the hard copy?" Sloane asked.

"We don't need it, we have all we need, and you'll never guess where we have to go." At that, they waited anxiously for the answer. Katairina gave sufficient pause before answering.

"I hope you enjoy the snow." Sloane understood where she meant and he grinned.

"Of course."

_Part 3 Discoveries_

The snow was coming down quite heavily as Katairina made her way to the coordinates that had been in her father's journal. With her was Arvin Sloane, Julian Sark and Kelly Peyton along with two mercenaries. As they reached the coordinates, Sloane came up behind her. They all stood there looking out onto an open space. There was nothing there and they didn't know what to think. Only Katairina didn't have a confused look on her face, she just smiled.

"What now?" Sloane asked and in response Katairina sank down and began to clear away the snow. She dug with her hands until she hit something solid. She then cleared away the rest of it to reveal a metal plate with a large symbol of Rambaldi welded on it. With that uncovered, Katairina looked up to Sloane who was smiling. She then looked behind her to Sark.

"Get the men, dig it up."

After recovering from Katairina's exit they got to work on finding her again. Even though they weren't done with the translation, didn't mean that with her knowledge she couldn't have deciphered it faster than them. They had people working all nighters to decipher the writings, but it wasn't going as fast as they hoped.

"What I don't get is if Katairina was this prepared she must have known we were coming for her," Marshall replied.

"Well, I have an idea about that," Weiss replied, "after Katairina's breakout there was a simultaneous raid on our holding facilities, all of our prisoners including Taylor are gone, it seems like it was all a play." Sydney didn't like to hear that, she hated to know that she let this happen again. They knew that they would have to finish translating the journal to know what or where she would go.

After much work, they finally finished the translation. However, the last page still eluded them, but they had the other pages which were all they needed. The translation told them where Katairina would head and when Sydney read it, she knew she should have figured it out herself. Milo Rambaldi had apparently hid one of his inventions in his old home of Mt. Subasio. When they sent a team to go there, they found that whatever was at the coordinates was gone. Katairina must have gotten there first and now she had whatever it was. Not knowing what it was, was the worst part. They were thinking of what next to do when Marshall rushed in to see them. He had gone to Langley to see if he could gain more information but he was back sooner than expected.

"I have something," he said urgently. They then waited for him to say more but instead of saying anything, he just took out a small device from his pocket. They looked at it but didn't know what it was. Their confusion showed on their faces and so Marshall began to speak.

"I know, you think that this looks like nothing, but amazingly, it's everything, this is how Katairina has been getting all of our information, it's a bug, very complicated and very intricate."

"She must have planted it when she raided Langley," Vaughn replied.

"Can you get anything from it Marshall?" Sydney asked and Marshall smiled.

"Already did, I know where Katairina is."

Katairina was in her library with Sloane, Sark and Peyton. She was sitting at her desk going over plans for her two machines.

"Report?" she asked to Sark and Peyton.

"Well machine 1 is complete but the second one is only 85%," Sark explained.

"We also have enough guards and sensors posted at the two locations, so we will have no surprises," Peyton replied.

"Good, we're almost ready, soon, my father's great vision will come to pass." After Katairina said that, there was a beeping on the monitors across the room and they all looked. Katairina pressed some buttons on a remote and images appeared. Those images showed none other than Sydney and her team rushing in.

"Well, I guess I know where I got my persistence from," Katairina said.

"How do you think she found us?" Peyton asked.

"My guess, they found our little device and traced it back here," Sloane replied and Katairina agreed to that.

"What do we do?" Sark asked.

"Seeing as how they are so predictable, it's time we give her the information on machine two." That little revelation seemed to shock and confuse Sark and Peyton.

"Wait, I thought these machines were essential in Rambaldi's plan?" Sark asked.

"Oh, they are, but once they realize what they're dealing with, it'll already be in motion, stopping it will distract her long enough for the greater importance to begin, then, the real fun starts."

"They're entering this level," Sloane replied. Upon hearing that, Katairina went to work on the computers. She took out everything that she needed before destroying the hard drive. She had to leave no trace of what she was working on.

"Let's go," she said and they all began to leave.

Sydney led the team and when they got to a double hallway, they didn't know which to take. It was Sydney who decided and pointed toward the left.

"Let's go this way," she said.

"How do you know? Vaughn asked and at that, Sydney looked him in the eyes.

"I can feel her," she said and even though he was confused, he believed it was better to ask her later.

When Katairina and the others were almost out, they saw the door that led to the helicopter that would take them to location 2. Sark and Peyton were first and just as Katairina was going to go, she heard someone yell "stop!" Katairina didn't have to turn around to know who it was, but she did anyway.

"Well hello Sydney," she said, "what are you doing here?" Sydney ignored her sarcasm.

"Don't move," she said, holding up a gun at her.

"Or what?" she challenged. Sydney still had her gun point at her and after she said that, she cocked it, "what, you going to shoot me? Could you really do that?" They then stared down at one another for the briefest of moments before there was a gunshot and everyone sort of jumped. One of the guards went down and everyone looked behind them to see Taylor leading a few others, all of which had guns pointed at them. After glancing at them, Sydney looked back at Katairina.

"You might want to lower your weapons now," she said to Sydney who knew that with these odds, she had to do so. Taylor then went over to stand by Katairina with his gun still pointed at Sydney.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised he lied for you?" Sydney replied as she looked from Taylor to Katairina.

"Of course he would lie for me, he would never betray me." It was at that moment that Sydney noticed that Katairina and Taylor were holding hands. She looked at that for a long moment and they noticed that was where she was looking.

"So, you both are . . ." Sydney began.

"Since before any of this happened," Katairina replied.

"So, everything was a play for you to get caught and steal the manuscript?" Sydney asked.

"Yes, and you made it too easy for us," Katairina smirked but then got serious, "well, I wish I could stay and reminisce but I have big work to do." The others that were holding weapons on Sydney then covered their escape as they all got into the helicopter that got ready to take off. Before Sloane got in however, he turned to Sydney.

"If you know what's good for you, you'd leave her alone," he said to her.

"I think you know me better than that," she seethed. He then got in and when everyone was in, Katairina locked eyes with Sydney once again before they closed the door and lifted off.

_Part 4: The Final Countdown_

Katairina slowly opened her eyes and stretched. After a moment, she sat up and made sure to cover herself with a sheet from the bed. When she got up, Taylor, who was next to her stirred. He opened his eyes and stared up at her.

"Going already?" he asked.

"Well, we're done here and I have to work to do to get ready for my father's final plan, pretty soon we'll be living in a new world." At that, Taylor looked away for a moment and then back.

"How many people will die when this happens?" he asked.

"If all goes according to plan no one should, we should actually be saving lives," she explained and she seemed quite confident.

"Yes but when has anything ever gone our way," he said, "remember that you can tell me the truth, always."

"I know I can, so let's just say, it'll be really bad for anyone who gets in my way." Taylor watched her get ready and seemed unnerved by her new attitude. He had known her for quite some time and she used to be kinder. She was troubled, but she had the strength to deal with that, until she became more and more obsessed with her father's works. Her visions hadn't helped either. It seemed that the more she received, the more she began to lose who she was. He tried to help her but he had an obstacle and that was obstacle's name was Arvin Sloane.

"Why do you have to be so cold?" he asked her.

"I don't think I'm being cold, I think I'm being dedicated."

"Well, you weren't this dedicated since you met him," he said and Katairina looked to him, "I don't like him."

"I'm aware of your dislike but I trust him and that's all that should matter, Arvin Sloane is the embodiment of my father's work, we need him, I need him." At that, she seemed desperate for a moment but it quickly passed and she composed herself. The words 'I need him' also stung because he remembered a time when he was all she needed, "now," she began again, "I have work to do and so do you, let this be the end of this discussion." With nothing more to say, he just nodded. After she left, he just sat there and felt very troubled.

Sydney and Vaughn waited while their team searched the rest of Katairina's compound. They were currently searching what looked like her library. After a few minutes, the agents brought out what they had found. They handed Sydney a bunch of papers which she and Vaughn looked over. They seemed to be plans for a weapon that the more they read, the more they worried. Apparently, Katairina was building a device that could reanimate the dead. According to the research, the epicenter of the device spread out to encompass hundreds of miles. They didn't know what this would mean for Katairina's long term plans but for now, they knew they would have to do something about it.

"We have to stop this," Sydney stated.

"We should get this stuff back to Marshall and see what he can make of this," Vaughn and Sydney agreed.

A search team was left to search more of the building while Sydney and Vaughn talked with Marshall. He looked over the research intensely and found some rather interesting facts which he shared with them. Apparently, when active, the device would emit a certain type of radiation which could be located quite easily once you know what you're looking for. Once everyone was filled in on that information Dixon immediately sent out teams to search for this device. Sydney was the only one who took a different approach. While they were looking, she thought about what had happened with Katairina so far. Vaughn and Dixon were there when something occurred to her.

"Something about this whole thing seems odd."

"What do you mean?" Vaughn asked.

"Well so far, she has been one step ahead of us and now she's careless enough to leave her plan way out in the open, it doesn't seem like her."

"She slipped up, it was bound to happen at least once," Dixon replied.

"No, I don't think so, not to her, she's too meticulous, too careful, I think this is just a distraction to throw us off her real plan."

"Well if you're right don't you think that she'd figure out that you'd pick up on this?" Dixon asked.

"I don't know but let's cover all our bases because you know she will be," Sydney replied and they could all agree to that.

Agent Myerson and Agent Nielson kept themselves quite busy dealing with Sydney Bristow and Michael Vaughn's two young children Isabelle and Jack. It was their job to keep the children of agents in the field safe while they were away. They had done this for years and they were good at it. They had been trained to handle any contingency that could arise. Currently, the children were asleep. It was quite late and they were each doing their own thing when both their alarms beeped. The alarm was signifying that the security perimeter had been breached. Hearing this, they immediately went on alert. For security purposes the children were in the same room, so they headed there. As they did, they saw that the light in the room was already on. They burst in to see four individuals surrounding the two scared children sitting on one bed. They stopped and were about to draw their weapons when Nielson was hit from behind. He went down and Myerson saw a bullet wound in the back of his head. He thus stopped and dropped his gun to the ground to put his hands up. When he did, a girl came forward.

"Okay, now that we have your attention, you have two choices, one, you could fight back which would be quite pointless I assure you, or, you could serve as my messenger and just pray that Sydney doesn't kill you for it," the girl said. He just stood there staring in her eyes before he knew what he had to do. Katairina also knew what he was thinking and she nodded.

"Good, now, the message," she said, grinning quite satisfactorily.

Sydney and Vaughn were with Dixon when Marshall ran in looking rather panicked. They all immediately knew something was wrong.

"Marshall, what is it?" Sydney asked.

"There's a problem, it's your kids," he said and immediately Sydney went into her protective mother mode.

When they found out what happened to their kids, they had the whole area searched. They were gone though and they felt helpless. However, it seemed that Katairina didn't leave them completely empty handed. She had sent them a video tape straight to their headquarters that they immediately began to watch.

"Hello Sydney," she said, "I'm assuming by now you've got my message, yes, I have your children and they will be safe, as long as you stay on task and stay away from me." When she finished speaking, she walked a little ways away to reveal her children. They were alone in a room playing with Sloane. They could see them through a glass window and when they saw they were with Sloane they all got immediately angry. He was the last person any one of them wanted around those kids.

"Now," Katairina said as she came back on screen, "I hope you get my point, when everything is done I'll return them to you. Don't worry, I won't hurt them, they are after all, family and you don't hurt family, do you?" With that, she cut the link and they were left in darkness. When it went blank, Sydney turned to them all.

"Okay, I'm going after them," she said and Vaughn agreed.

"Are you sure?" Dixon asked.

"No way am I leaving my children in the care of Sloane and whatever Katairina is doing is probably ten times worse than the machine we're going after."

"Well, okay, we'll divide and conquer, you and Vaughn go after Katairina and I'll send a team with Weiss after the device," Dixon replied and with everything agreed upon, they set to work.

As a precaution just in case anything happened to their kids, they put a small tracking device on their kid's belongings. Whatever they had on them could be treated and so they were able to track them to Zurich. The other device was found also and Weiss was sent with his team. Katairina was located at an underground facility beneath one of Zurich's largest banks. To get in they had to sneak into by way of a secret vault in the highest security wings. To do this, they had to pose as a rich couple hoping to secure their fortune inside the bank. Once arriving, they met with the manager of the bank. Their aliases were Mr. And Mrs. Heinrich Vanderlaum. Upon their entrance, the manager was there to greet them.

"Ah, hello, how are you this evening?"

"Very, very well," Vaughn replied in his best German accent.

"Good, if you would follow me, I will take you on our tour to show you the facility." They both nodded and followed him. When they finally came to the part of the tour they wanted, Vaughn made sure to keep the manager busy. Sydney got out Marshall's special knock out spray. She had it in her hand and when the manager turned to her, she sprayed it. The manager got hit and went down they then got to work on what they had to do.

Katairina walked into the room where the children were being held and excused the guards. They left without question and the two children looked to her. Little Jack seemed happy and content playing with some toys but Isabelle was much more suspicious. When the guards were gone, she looked defiantly at Katairina who was quite amused by this.

"Where's my mom?"she asked.

"Well, she's not here, but don't worry, you're safe."

"Why did you take us from our home?"

"I know, you've been uprooted quite a bit, but I promise you that this is the last place you'll be taken to, other than your home, you see, I'm having a little disagreement with your mom and we're in the process of working it out."

"What disagreement?"

"Oh, that doesn't matter right now, I just came here to see you . . . you see," she said and then she came over and sat on a chair next to them, "we're actually family, I wonder, have you ever wanted a sister?" At that, Isabelle got a smile on her face.

"Oh yes, I mean, I love Jack, but I've always wanted a sister," she said quite excitedly. Katairina just smiled at her reaction.

"Well, now you do," she said which just caused the little girl's excitement to heighten.

"You, really?" Isabelle said and at that she came right up and sat next to Katairina and they began talking. Outside the room, behind the glass, Sark stood watching. After a moment, Sloane came up behind him.

"What's going on?" he asked Sark.

"They're just talking," Sark replied.

"About what?"

"Nothing important, why?"

"Just watch her, make sure she stays on goal, we can't have her distracted this close to activation," Sloane explained.

"Understood sir."

"Good, now, we have a problem that has to be dealt with," Sloane replied and he went to enter the room.

Katairina was in mid conversation when Sloane entered.

"I'm busy," she said.

"I know, but an issue has arisen that needs your attention," he replied and Katairina knew she had to go. So, she stood up and looked down at Isabelle.

"Now, they'll be someone outside the door if you need anything and after this is all over, you can go home." She then began to leave but as she reached the door she noticed Isabelle come up to her. To her surprise, the young girl gave her a hug and this show of affection softened something inside Katairina. It also showed on her face and Sloane picked up on it. After a moment, she reciprocated and Isabelle looked up to her.

"Thank you," she said and Katairina smiled. Sloane knew just then that he had to get her attention and so he rushed her out of the room.

After they exited, Sloane took her to the computer room to show her the problem. When he pulled up the video feed, they saw Sydney and Vaughn entering the lower hatch to the compound. Katairina saw this and didn't seem pleased at all.

"Well, apparently I underestimated her this time," she said and Sloane got a little angry.

"We should kill them both now before they ruin everything," he stated.

"That's a bit hasty," she replied.

"Is it, or is it that after everything, you can't kill her, maybe you still think that she can actually be a mother to you?"

"What are you getting at?"

"You know exactly what I'm getting at, deep down you want her to care about you and I should know, I suffered from it once myself, that was at least before she helped lock me up in a cave. She did that to me, what makes you think that she'll care what happens to you especially after all you've done to her."

"If I'm hearing you right, I'd say you think I'm losing my nerve?"

"I saw the way you were with Isabelle, don't go soft on me."

"Don't worry about that, I have my eye on the prize."

"Good, make sure you do, this is too important, it's what your father wanted, remember that."

"I know, trust me, I know." With that, she took another look at the monitors.

"Shall we go greet our visitors?" she asked, looking at Sloane, who nodded.

Sydney and Vaughn made their way into the underground facility and followed the tracking chip to its location. However, as they made their way there they entered through a door only to find themselves face to face with Katairina, Sloane, Sark and a dozen Rambaldi followers.

"Oh Sydney, this would be so much easier if you knew how to follow instructions, now, you're going to have to deal with the consequences," Katairina explained and after she was finished, Sydney worried what those consequences could be.

Apparently, they were close to zero hour because Katairina had Sydney and Vaughn locked up and guarded by five guards. There, they waited and from afar they could hear the sound of something beginning. That was why, when Katairina showed up with Taylor, they were surprised she wasn't busy someplace else. She came in and stood in front of them, looking rather smug.

"Where are my kids Katairina?"

"Safer than you are right now, I told you not to come and yet you did."

"You have my kids, why wouldn't I come," she said and something about that stung in Katairina.

"They won't be hurt, that, I do promise, but since you're here, I can't guarantee you will be," Katairina replied, "Arvin suggested I kill you but I figure who better than you to see my father's ultimate vision come true."

"What is this device?" Vaughn asked.

"Something beyond the imagination," Katairina replied, "beyond your comprehension, even at time, beyond mine."

"So, that other device?" Vaughn asked.

"Merely a distraction, as was taking your children, granted, the other device is a miracle into itself but this one, this one is my father's, all his life, this is what we wanted, what he prophesied about, this is my destiny."

"How many people will be hurt or killed with you fulfilling your destiny?"

"Well, granted, not everyone will get out unscathed but such is the cost of progress." At that, Sydney noticed that Taylor looked to her, a little shocked but Katairina was too fixated on them to notice.

"Now, I have work to do, just sit tight, soon, all will be done." With that, she walked out with Taylor following.

After the two left, they closed the door behind them. Once they did, Taylor had to turn to Katairina.

"What did you mean in there about no one getting out unscathed, you said no one was going to get hurt."

"Well, I did say that, but you never know."

"So you lied, to me, we never set out to hurt anyone, remember, we just wanted to make the world a better plan."

"Well, as everyone knows, the new world can only be built on the foundation of the old one and I, am the hammer," she said and she had a look in her eyes he'd never seen before. It was one of fanaticism.

"What happened to you Kat, how many more people have to die before you're satisfied, I know what this is, it's Sloane, he's filled your head with his religious fanaticism, you didn't think this way before you met him."

"Oh, not this again, Sloane spent the better part of his life devoted to my father, why shouldn't I listen to him?"

"Because he's crazy, all those years down in that cave drove him mad, you have to stop, please."

"I can't, we're too close and if you don't like it, you can leave," she spat and he looked hurt. Before he could say anything else, Sloane's voice came from behind them.

"It's time," he said and they both looked to him.

"This is progress Taylor, you can't stand in the way of it," she said, and then she went to Sloane leaving him worried and hurt.

Katairina followed Sloane to the observation deck where down below, the device was being activated. There were a few technicians putting the final touches on it.

"Can you believe that it's almost time, this is really going to happen," Sloane said excitedly, but Katairina wasn't really in the mood.

"Don't back out now, we're almost done," he said.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm set for this," she said determined and Sloane grinned.

Sydney and Vaughn sat stewing in their cage as things heated up outside. They were beginning to think that they would be stuck here for all time. That was until Taylor showed up to dismiss the guards. They were a little shocked as were the guards. However, he insisted they leave and once they did, he immediately went to a cabinet and brought out their weapons. He then went up to their holdings and let them out.

"What are you doing?" Sydney asked, suspiciously.

"The right thing, I hope," he said, "you have to stop her."

"Do you expect us to believe you again?" Vaughn asked.

"I know, you have no reason to trust me but this wasn't what Katairina and I set out to do at first, this may be hard for you to believe but she used to be a good person, the person I fell in love with. It's Sloane, you know him, he's twisting everything. You have to save her from herself and I'll help you." With that, they both just looked at him oddly. He noticed this and so he decided to smooth it over with something he knew they wanted.

"Here's the key to where your children are, if you go that way you'll get to them." They both looked at the key for only a minute before Vaughn reached out and took it.

"I'll go after the kids and get them out of here," he said and she knew what she had to do.

"I'll go after Katairina," Sydney replied and with everything agreed to, Sydney and Vaughn kissed each other. They then went their separate ways which meant that Sydney would have to follow Taylor. When they arrived, he would be the distraction that she would need to finish this.

Katairina and Sloane were down by the device waiting for the activation sequence to start when Taylor came in and Katairina was actually happy to see him. Even after their fight she wanted him with her for this.

"I'm glad you're here," she said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm here to ask you one more time to stop this." The smile went off her face and she sighed, she was tired of this.

"I thought we'd be over this, this is inevitable, you have to go along with it."

"I can't, I'm sorry," he said. While they talked, Sydney snuck in and made her way to the device. The countdown had started and so she located the timer, or at least the complicated mass that was linked to the timer. When she found it, she saw it was not easy to shut down. There was no clear shut off but there were several connector wires that ran up to the device. She knew that she would have to pull it to stop it but that would signal Katairina and Sloane. The clock was ticking down and she knew she would have to if she wanted to stop it. Taylor must have known too because he looked to her. That look gave her, her motivation. She pulled out a weapon Taylor had given to her just as Katairina followed Taylor's gaze and saw her.

"No!" she yelled just as Sydney fired. Right when she did, the machine seized up. Just as it did, everyone went into action. Katairina turned angrily towards Taylor.

"You betrayed me!" she seethed and he looked hurt. While she went to Sydney, Sloane took that time to attack Taylor. He was just as angry at him as Katairina was. Sydney watched her stalk up to her and got right into fighting her. Sydney defended herself because she knew she would have to.

"You've ruined everything!" she seethed as she threw some punches.

"I couldn't let you do this," Sydney replied as she blocked a kick.

"You can't stop me, no one can stop me!" she yelled.

"You have to stop," Sydney replied back.

"I can't, this is all I have," she said and she seemed so desperate that Sydney felt bad for her.

"It doesn't have to," Sydney replied and she stopped fighting.

"No, I told you, I can't." Katairina stopped fighting then too and when she did Sydney took that time to try and calm her.

"It doesn't have to be, you can have a life."

"What life, I don't have a life without this."

"You don't have to, you can be so much more," she said and as she said that, there was a look of complete pain in her eyes. Sydney completely felt for her and as Sloane fought some ways away he saw what was happening. He knew that he would have to stop it and so he threw Taylor aside. He then began to stalk up to them. Katairina watched him come and he had a weapon in his hand which he preceded to point at Sydney but she pushed it down.

"No!" she said as she did so and he glared at her.

"I'm not going to let you fall for her crap the same way I did," he demanded as he again tried to shoot her. This time, before Sydney could do anything Katairina again tried to stop him. They grappled a little and Sloane managed to throw her aside. When he did though, he actually threw her into shattered metal of the broken timer device Sydney had blasted. She hit it with such force that she grunted. However, that wasn't the only reason she looked in pain. When she reached behind her and brought her hand back to her face, it was covered in blood. Both Sydney and Sloane were shocked but Sydney recovered faster. She took advantage of his hesitation and knocked the gun out of his and kicked him away with such force he fell. She then wasted no time in going to Katairina.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," Sydney said.

"No, I can't," Katairina stammered.

"You have to or you'll bleed to death," Sydney said as she forced her to start walking. With everyone busy, they managed to get out. As they did, Sydney was on the radio with Vaughn who said that a chopper was waiting for them outside. When they got out, they saw Vaughn, the kids and Weiss in the helicopter waiting for them. They went, got in and made sure to take care for the bleeding Katairina. The pain was enough for her not to put up much of a fight. They were then off before anyone could stop them.

Sloane composed himself after that fool Taylor made his getaway. He then looked around and when he didn't see Katairina he knew that Sydney must have taken her. Just then, some of the followers arrived and when they didn't see Katairina either, they looked to Sloane.

"Where is the Rambaldi heiress?" one of them asked.

"Don't worry," he said, "we'll get her back, I'll get her back." When he said that, he had a mad determined look in his eyes.

As the chopper landed, the doctor's were waiting right on the pad. It was good that they were because Katairina was losing a lot of blood and was barely conscious. She was put on a gurney and rushed to surgery. While she was being operated on, Sydney and Vaughn took care of their children and debriefed Dixon. Upon hearing everything, Dixon posted guards all around the hospital in preparation if Sloane tried to get to her. When everything was taken care of, Sydney got a call from Marshall who said it was urgent. He asked if she could come to see him immediately. She did, but not before leaving Vaughn in charge of watching Katairina.

When she arrived, she went straight to Marshall's office where she found him.

"What is it Marshall?"she asked as he saw her and went to pick up a manila folder on his desk.

"The translation team finally deciphered the last page of Rambaldi's journal and I think you should read it," he said as he handed it to her.

"Any reason why this is so important?" she asked.

"Well, you see, it's a letter, a letter, to you," he said and that nearly took her breath away. She knew that Rambaldi had been a prophet but this is the first time he'd ever given a name to what he had prophesied. She knew she would have to read it but she didn't want to do it in front of anyone. So, she nodded towards Marshall and left to find an empty briefing room. She sat down and took out the letter and began reading it. Like Marshall had said, her name was on it.

_ Dearest Sydney,_

_I am about to die. It seems_ _at the end of one's life you think of all things you are leaving behind. For me, it is even more so. You wish to leave a contribution to the world and I hope that I have. However, I know how much these contributions of mine will cost you. All I can say is that I am sorry and I wish you can truly believe that. You may not believe me, but you mean the world to me. I could never explain it to anyone, my feelings for someone I never met. I felt your pain even if you didn't know it. I just wish you to know that everything I did, I did for love. Love for you and love for her. Even though I will never get to see her with my own eyes I wish her to know that she was all I ever wanted. It is strange, I looked for immortality my entire life and it wasn't until I saw her did I know what true immortality could be. So, that is what part of this letter goes out to. The daughter I will never know and even though I see her as clear as day I know I will never know it. So, I leave with these final thoughts, first to you Sydney, I hope you can forgive, not only me but her. She will have been shown no love, nor compassion and so she will have none for others. I hope that you can help to bring those into her life. Take care of her Sydney, she could be so much more. Now, finally, to you, my sweet child. You are the part of my life, my soul and I wish for you to have a normal life. I wish for you to live the life I never got to live, do no harm, help when you can, return good for evil._

_ Eternally Yours,_

_ Milo _

_ Giacomo_

_ Rambaldi_

Sydney finished reading and slowly set the letter on the table. She then began to think of what she should do now. She slowly realized what she was going to do and so she got ready to go back to the hospital.

Katairina was out of surgery and in recovery when Sydney arrived. There were guards posted inside the room that when she came in, she had to excuse. After they left, she turned to Katairina's unconscious form. As she looked down at her, a thought dawned on her. As she lay there sleeping, she looked so frail and weak. Nothing like what she was when she was awake. Sydney couldn't help but look and see a part of herself in her. Seeing this, without realizing it, she reached out to brush a piece of hair that had fallen in her face.

Outside the room, she was unaware that Vaughn and Dixon were watching her. They looked to each other and they were worried but just let her be.

After a moment, Katairina stirred and as she did, Sydney took a few steps back. When she finally opened her eyes and took in her surroundings she immediately went on the offensive. When she did, she got up quickly and painfully, due to her wound.

"Where am I?"

"In a hospital."

"A CIA hospital I'm assuming."

"We have to be safe."

"For me or from those who you know will be coming for me."

"Both."

"Well, that's good, as long as you all feel safe, meanwhile, since I'm here, I guess it won't be long until your friends from the DSR arrive and whatever life I have will be taken from me. I sure hope your safety is more important," she replied sarcastically.

"Why did you do it?" Sydney asked out of the blue and took Katairina by surprise, "why did you try to stop Sloane? I thought you hated me, I mean, you've been trying to get at me and the one time where you could finally get rid of me, you didn't do it." Katairina thought about that and as she did, Sydney could tell that she had the answer but didn't want to say it out loud. Finally though, she did and when she spoke, Sydney didn't see a strong leader, instead, she saw a child.

"All my life, I grew up without a mother, I guess I just didn't want Isabelle and Jack to go through the same thing." Right then, she looked in Sydney's eyes and their eyes locked. It was Katairina however, who looked away first. There were then a few moments of silence before Sydney believed it was time and so she pulled out the letter.

"We just recently had the last page of Rambaldi's journal deciphered, this is the page that you didn't get after your raid. I believe he wanted you to see it, you're mentioned and I believe this was what he truly wanted for you. Read it and draw your own conclusions if you don't believe me." After she finished speaking, Katairina slowly took the letter. Sydney then nodded to her before leaving the room to give her some privacy. She watched from the window as Katairina read. She could tell that she was reading from the looks that came over her face. There were distinct expressions of pain and she actually began to cry a little. The whole scene was gut wrenching for Sydney to watch. As she did, the more empathetic she was beginning to feel towards her. Because of this, a plan came to her mind and it was going to make a lot of people mad, but she didn't see any other choice. She would have to do it, she knew it.

Later, she went to Vaughn and Dixon privately in a room where she knew they weren't being watched. She knew what she was going to ask them would go against the rules but she had to try. Once she had them there she took a deep breath and began. She laid out her plan then, step by step and like assumed, they were not happy about it. So, to convince them, she made a heartfelt plea for Katairina's sake and so they thought about it.

"Before I agree to this, how do you know that she's not playing us, she's done it before, much like her grandmother before her," Dixon said.

"This is different than Irina, I wish I could explain it to you but I can't, it's just a feeling I have."

"Well, far be it for me not to trust your instincts," Vaughn said, which was as good as a yes from him which just left Dixon.

"You know that if we do this, we're breaking the law that we've vowed to uphold," he said and then he looked to Sydney and took a deep breath, "but, if she were my daughter, I think I'd do the same thing." With that, it was agreed and so they got to work.

As predicted, the moment that Kendall found out that Katairina was in the hospital he sent a team to bring her in no matter what condition she was in. He still had the executive order placing her in his custody and so Sydney and the others had to act quick. Dixon had the job of preoccupying the DSR agents that had been sent while Vaughn dealt with the distraction that Sydney would need to get Katairina out of there. Sydney waited outside her room while also waiting for the sign from Vaughn. There were guards there but when the sign came, the lights going out, Sydney turned to face them.

"Go see what that is, I've got here," she said and they nodded. They had no reason to doubt her and so they followed her orders. Sydney waited a moment before acting and rushing into the room to find Katairina had just finished getting dressed. When she came in so suddenly, she spun around to see her.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"It's not Sloane," she said and Katairina actually looked a little relieved.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm getting you out of here," Sydney replied and Katairina looked confused.

"Come on, we don't have a lot of time," she said, motioning for her to come.

"I can't," she said.

"What, why?" Sydney asked.

"If I go with you, I have to give up on what my father prophesied, I'm supposed to cause unimaginable destruction, it's inevitable."

"No, it isn't, I've found out that nothing is inevitable, I think that's why Rambaldi let me break that part of his prophecy of me not seeing Mt. Subasio. His prophesies can be broken which means you can break this too. The question is, do you want a life that is your own?" With that, she looked at Sydney's outstretched hand and paused. When she finally knew what she wanted, she grabbed her hand. They held on tight as Sydney led the way out of the room. They went down the hall and as they began to head towards the back exit, Katairina was still confused.

"How is this going to work?"

"Well, when I decided on what to do, it seemed fortuitous that Taylor found out where you were being held and contacted me. He's waiting for you outside." Katairina could then smile. When they finally reached the exit they opened the door to see a plain car waiting. When they were seen, the door opened and Taylor came out. He then motioned hurriedly to her so that they could get out of there. Before she got in the car, however, she faced Sydney.

"Now it's my turn to ask you, why are you doing this for me?"

"Well, I guess I realized, I don't want to become my mother. I have to deal with the fact that deep down, my mother didn't want me, I was just a means to an end and I, I didn't want you to think that you're not wanted, your life can have meaning if you let it, you weren't a mistake." Katairina was moved by what she had said.

"Kat, we have to go," Taylor insisted as he came up to them breaking them out of their gazes. Katairina finally headed to him. Taylor got in but again Katairina turned to look at Sydney.

"Mom," she said and Sydney was taken back for a moment, "thank you." That was all she said and Sydney smiled a little to her before she finally getting fully into the car.

When everything got back to normal and it was found out that Katairina was gone, Kendall was fuming. He tore Sydney, Vaughn and Dixon a new one. The official story was that Katairina got away with the help of Taylor. They were both now fugitives but that was nothing new. Kendall had his huff and then left Sydney and the others alone.

"Do you really think we have nothing to worry about with her?" Dixon asked, "if you believe it, we will too." Sydney took a deep breath and only thought for a moment.

", I think she's going to be fine," she said and they both nodded. That was all that needed to be said and they all just waited to see what the future would hold for all of them.

_Part 5: The End of the Beginning_

Another briefing, another day of problems. That was what it felt like to Sydney Bristow, special agent for the CIA. In the briefing today were agents Bristow, Vaughn, Weiss, Dixon, Marshall, and Rachel. The topic of discussion today was none other than the newly resurrected Arvin Sloane, arch nemesis of not only the CIA but the world. Currently, Sloane and the former followers of Katairina were working along with other terrorist organizations to bring havoc. His current plan that he was enacting, that they could perceive, was that he was trying to unite the entire underworld he could around the world into one giant organization that he uniquely called the Generation of Rambaldi. The reason he was able to do so much in so little time could be contributed to two factors. One was that he was using technology designed by Katairina that was far more advanced than anything they had seen before. Luckily for them, Katairina was no longer producing for them. Still, there was enough weaponry for them to be a great threat. The CIA and their allies had obtained some of their mass produced weaponry and the techs that had been recruited to study them had not been able to find out how they worked. The second reason Sloane has been such a threat was his immortality. Their plan was to find a way to eliminate Sloane but first they had to find him while simultaneously stopping his advances.

After they walked out of the briefing, just with more bad news, Vaughn followed Sydney to her desk. Ever since they had helped Katairina escape she had been contacting them periodically. Both she and her boyfriend and confident, Taylor Salvone, were constantly on the move to keep ahead of both sides that were chasing them. Sydney went to check the normal channels. When she did, she found no posts and that depressed her a little.

"Don't worry, she'll contact you, she's probably not in a computer's vicinity," Vaughn replied, sensing her depression and Sydney nodded.

"Yeah, you're probably right, I'm just worried about her," she replied and Vaughn put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her as she wondered what her daughter was doing at this time.

_Deep in the Congo_

In the darkness of the hut, Katairina bolted awake. She took a few deep breaths as she took in her surroundings. Taylor lay next to her, sound asleep. She slowly got up and went to her workroom that was filled with gadgets and papers of whatever popped into her head. She found it useful to put them down on paper just to get them out of her head. Once she had a vision, her mind was consumed with it and so this was the best way to get it out. She didn't have to write them down to make the pain stop, but she did it anyway. After what she had been through in her life, she could take it. As she walked into her workroom, she went immediately to the desk on the far side where she had her current project on and she began to work on it. As she did, she thought of her current predicament. The place they were hiding at was just one of the many hideaways that only she knew about just in case she had to get away, which was the case now. Much of her life was secretive and no one knew everything there was to know about her. This was at times useful but also it was hard to live a normal life. As she continued to be lost in her thoughts, she worked very meticulously.

Taylor woke up and noticed that the warmth from Katairina's side of the bed was gone. He thus got up to go and find her, knowing where she must have gone. He walked out of the bedroom and like he expected, he saw an illuminated light coming from her workroom, the one place he knew she didn't like him to go. He respected her wishes and didn't go in but instead, he went and knocked on the door. After a moment, the door opened and she came out.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked as she came fully out and shut the door behind her.

"No, why are you up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd work some."

"You have another vision?" he asked and from the look on her face he knew she had. He could always tell, along with knowing when she was in pain. Every time she had a vision, it took a toll on her and even though he wanted to help her, sometimes he couldn't. Now they were hiding, hoping to dodge those who wanted to use her for their own selfish purposes. That couldn't be truer than with Arvin Sloane. From the first moment he met him, he had disliked him. He hated the way he always used to look at her. He had wanted her all to himself and wouldn't have let her go if they hadn't of escaped. Taylor's primary mission now was to keep Katairina safe, safe from all those who would wish to exploit her, especially, Arvin Sloane. As he and she walked over to the small kitchen to make some breakfast, he asked the same question he always did.

"What are you building in there?"

"You know I don't like to say until it's finished," she replied, smiling.

"Okay, fine," he replied, pretending to be hurt, "changing the subject, have you spoken to your mother lately?" At that, she paused for a moment and he could tell that she was thinking to herself.

"Actually, no," she said as she started making breakfast.

"Is there any reason why and don't tell me that it's because you're worried someone could trace our signal, I know you better than that."

"I don't know, part of me knows that what she told me when we left each other was the truth but another part of me can't get over that she didn't want me to exist. The more I think about it, the more I think no one wanted me to exist just for me, except my dead father."

"That's not true," Taylor said very quickly.

"Isn't everyone who worked to have me did it simply for what I could do for them," she said sadly and Taylor would have none of that. He first made her look him in the eye before he spoke.

"Others may have wanted you for what you could do but I want you simply for you and I always will." Once he said that, she grinned at him and they gazed at one another for quite some time, smiling.

After they finished eating, Katairina had a job to do and so she told Taylor what she needed. Although, what she needed was something rare and to get it she may have to expose herself which he didn't like.

"No," he said after she proposed it, "absolutely not."

"Look, if it was anything else I'd say sure, it's too much of a risk, but this is important."

"What is it?"

"Something that will help a lot of people," she said and after a moment Taylor reluctantly agreed. With that, they decided to go and meet the one person who could help them.

_Prague_

Sydney and Vaughn, under aliases and heading up a CIA team, had gone to the last place Sloane had been seen. They had gotten this information of Sloane's whereabouts through some of Sydney's sources that she had tasked to scour where ever they could. After a long time of searching they finally found some leads which they forwarded to Sydney. He had been sighted here a few times apparently gaining followers. As it was, all that had to be done was for him to show his immortality. People saw that and fell in line with the promise of long life as well. Of course Sloane would never go through with it, he was just using that as a lure. So, with all that happening, they found themselves in this predicament. Sydney and Vaughn's aliases were of two bangers in a club called The Raven. This club was chosen because in actuality it was a front for all sorts of criminal activities. Among some of the scum that frequented the club were former agents of the Covenant and the Alliance. When they got in, they made their way to the club owner, a man named Remy Markovich. He was at the bar when they flanked him. He saw them but didn't seem so impressed which was okay, they wanted it that way.

"Hey, we hear you're the owner," Sydney said.

"You hear right, what could you possibly want?"

"Just a little information, you see, we are striving for the great things in life," Vaughn began and Remy smirked.

"Let me guess, fame, glory, power, does that sum it up," he said, in a sort of mocking tone and they looked like they were annoyed, "oh, it's always the same, inexperienced individuals always come here looking for what they think they haven't earned, well, sorry to ruin your fun but I don't have whatever you're looking for." With that, he just turned to face the bar and tried to ignore them, but they were going to have none of that. It was Sydney who took the initiative and pulled out her concealed weapon. Markovich saw this and glanced at her but she was just smiling.

"Let me make this simple for you, how about you tell us what we want to know or I put a bullet right where you really don't want a bullet," she said and he looked to where she was pointing and gulped.

"What do you want?"

"Where is Arvin Sloane?" Vaughn asked and Markovich glared at him.

"What is your business with the immortal?" he asked and the way he said it made Sydney sick.

"Oh, we're old friends," she said.

"Tell us where he is?"

"If I tell you, I won't be considered worthy to join him."

"Pathetic," Sydney spat.

"Listen, just tell us where he is, there's no way he'll know who did it," Vaughn replied and Markovich stared at him. Just as he was about to talk, the door to the club burst open and there was Sloane flanked by two Followers. Being so close to the door it was inevitable that he would see them which he did. When he saw Sydney, the smile on his face was unmistakable. It was that smile that angered Sydney to the point which on instinct she did the one thing that came to her mind. She raised her weapon and shot at him in the chest. Unfortunally, the bullet had no effect on him which just seemed to amuse him more. He then nodded to his men who reached in their jackets and pulled out guns. Before they could react, they were shot. It wasn't bullets, instead, they each saw a dart pointing out of them. That was the last thing that they saw before collapsing.

When Sydney became conscious again, she and Vaughn were tied down in separate chairs and Sloane was standing in front of them, grinning. Sydney saw this and began to struggle but it was no use.

"Oh Sydney, I'd say I missed you but that would be a lie, you see, all that time locked below the rock and inside the darkness has changed me in more ways that anything I went through in the past. I now see you for what you are, pathetic."

"I never cared what you thought about me why would I start now," Sydney spat.

"Well you should, especially with what I am now," he replied, "there is one reason and one reason only that you are alive right now, I want to know where she is, tell me," Sloane demanded.

"Where you will never find her, that I can promise, plus I thought you were all powerful now?" Sydney said that last part sarcastically and grinned. That just made Sloane upset and angry.

"You know why I can't find her, she's good, I know this. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't, she's a lot like me in that respect." Sydney fumed inside, she knew him all too well, his deluded thoughts that he was meant to be important was sickening. He had dedicated years to Rambaldi and his quest for immortality which he managed to achieve but at too much cost. He had killed his own daughter and her father, among so many others. All he wanted was power and now, with Katairina, he thought he had all the power he needed. There was also something else that disgusted Sydney and that was Sloane's interest in her daughter. Rambaldi meant everything to him and now so did his daughter. Sloane believed he had a right to her and that was something Sydney would not stand for.

"She's nothing like you and you're right that you won't find her because she doesn't want you to find her."

"That's because her mind has been poisoned by you I'm sure, I've tried to contact her but she hasn't answered and I know that, that's the reason. If I have the chance to talk to her I know she'll listen to me."

"You just stay the hell away from her."

"Oh, I see the motherly instincts have kicked on in you, but know this Sydney, Rambaldi meant for me to be her destiny. I was meant to guide her, protect her, after all, I'm the closest she has to a . . ." he began but then Sydney cut him off.

"A what," she interjected, "a father figure, I don't think so, I've seen what you do to those you call family, it never ends up well for them. You had your chance with Nadia and you screwed that up. I'll die before I let you do the same to Katairina. You think she's your destiny, well think about this, if you were, why would Rambaldi keep her existence away from you, you're sick and I'm going to kill you somehow." At that, Sloane laughed.

"My dear Sydney, how long have you said that yet, here I am, alive and better than ever. No, I will live for a long time and that time will be spent with my destiny. Rambaldi knew I wasn't ready for her but I now I am and I intend to find her no matter what, even if that means using you to lure her out of hiding." With that, he glared at her deeply before he walked out the door leaving them guarded, but alone.

After Sloane was gone, Sydney did what she could to wake up Vaughn. After a few moments he shook awake and took in his surroundings.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"One of Sloane's many hideouts I'm guessing, he's going to use us to lure Katairina out of hiding, we have to get out of here."

"How?" After Vaughn asked that, Sydney looked around until she saw a way out, it would be hard but with Vaughn they could do it. When Vaughn saw where she was looking, he seemed to pick up on what she wanted. First, they had to move their chairs in front of each other without making much noise as to not lure the guards. When they did, they lifted up their feet to one another so that they could push themselves over. It was done with such force that they flipped over to break their chairs. Sydney had done something like this before and so she figured that it would work. When they were free, the obvious noise brought the guards but with the both of them, it was an easy job. They then made their way out.

When Sloane got word that they had escaped he was angry but he had expected it, there would be other times, but right now, his concern was Katairina. His scouts were out there looking for her and it was only a moment before he would have her once again.

_Istanbul_

Katairina and Taylor made their way to one of Katairina's contacts to get something she needed for whatever she was working on. His name was McGovern and according to his own instructions, they met with him in a public area, an outside restaurant where they sat at a corner table where they could see everything. After some time waiting, he finally arrived.

"Long time no see young one," he said.

"I'm not so young, can't say the same about you," Katairina replied and that caused a smile from him before he sat down.

"That is too true, too true," he said as he did so.

"Do you have what I asked you for?"

"Right to business, that is what I like about you," he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of red liquid which he set on the table, "that was not easy to find I hope you know."

"I know, that's why I had to ask you to get it," she replied as she took it off the table and then nodded to Taylor who got up followed by Katairina.

"Going so soon?"

"Much to do."

"Always in such a rush," he replied giving a sly smile which Katairina reciprocated.

"Always," she replied before they both walked away. Just as they were walking away they were unaware of a man watching them. When they were gone, he dialed his phone which was picked up on the first ring.

"Tell Sloane, I found her."

_Peru_

Katairina and Taylor left McGovern and went on to another place where Katairina was looking for another part of her plan. They were walking through the city streets and Taylor was watching Katairina as she rubbed her temples a little. She kept walking but seemed lost in thought and a little sad.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Oh it's nothing," she said, but he didn't buy it.

"They're evolving again aren't they?" That caused her to grin a little as they both kept walking.

"It's nothing I can't handle, besides, I can't change it, like a lot of things, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches."

"What do you mean . . ." he began but then paused. He had noticed a few men acting strangely. He stopped which caused Katairina to stop and they both looked around.

"Trouble?" she asked as she slipped the liquid vial in to his pocket. Just after she said that, from all around them, men with guns appeared. They found themselves surrounded and outnumbered. However, they stood fast even when, to their dismay, Sloane appeared. He saw her and smiled before walking up to her with his men bringing up the rear.

"I finally found you," he said softly.

"Sloane," Taylor seethed but Sloane didn't take his eyes off Katairina.

"My dear, it's time you came with me," he said as he held out his hand, but Taylor reacted by knocking it out of her way.

"Over my dead body," he spat and just as he was about to swing at him, one of the guards hit him with the butt of his gun so hard that he went down, unconscious.

"Kill him," Sloane said but before he could, Katairina got in between Taylor and them.

"No!" she yelled, "listen, I will come with you and I won't put up a fight, but you just can't hurt him." After a moment, Sloane nodded and told the guard to lower his weapon.

"He means nothing to me, only you do." He then held out his hand again to her which she looked at. Taking a deep breath and glancing down at Taylor she reluctantly took it. Sloane smiled as he led her away with the guards right behind them.

When Taylor became conscious again and found Katairina missing, he immediately came up with a plan of what to do next.

After briefing Dixon on what had happened to them in Prague, they went back to work on trying to retrace Sloane's footsteps. As they were doing that, Sydney got an incoming video transmission on her terminal. When she opened it, she saw Taylor bruised and so she immediately asked him what had happened.

"It's Sloane, he found us and now he has her." Once he said that, Sydney immediately grew worried.

Katairina heard the door unlock and saw it open. She then saw Sark and Peyton enter. At first no one said anything.

"Sloane wants to see you," Sark said.

"Of course he does," she said and then she noticed the way they were looking at her, "what?"

"Why did you leave?" Sark asked, "we were making so much progress."

"Julian, sometimes, to fulfill one's own destiny, one only has to set out on their own and just so you know, I'm not just talking about me. I once told you both that you could do a great many things, together, with both of your skills and knowledge, the things you could do. I will always stand by that and no matter what you choose, it's in your power to choose. Now, I suppose I should go see Sloane." She then walked right past them and before they followed her, they exchanged glances with one another. They all left the cell and went to Sloane's office. When they arrived he dismissed Sark and Peyton so that they could be alone. When they were Sloane got right to it.

"I noticed earlier, that you didn't seem surprised that I found you," he replied.

"I always assume someone will find me and I know you better than you think, I know that you won't stop until you get what you want but I hope you know, I will never help you, not anymore." She said that with such steely determination that Sloane had only seen before in Sydney. Hearing this, it caused him to go up to her and grab her by the shoulders.

"I really wish you didn't say that," he said regrettably. After he did, the door behind them opened up again. Katairina slowly turned around and to her horror saw the one man she believed she would never see again. She saw the one person who had made her life miserable when she was a child, Dr. Simon Kane. When he saw the horror on her face, he smiled maliciously.

"Hello sweetie, long time no see."

After that, no time was wasted. Katairina was dragged to another room where she was strapped down to a table Sloane sat next to her and held her hand, but she tried to shake away but he just held it again. He then sat and watched as Kane took out a small case that when opened, revealed a bright orange liquid. Katairina struggled but it was no use. The doctor advanced on her with a syringe of the liquid and a smile on his face.

"I take it you remember this," he said.

"You keep that the hell away from me," she seethed but he took her arm and began to bring the needle closer.

"Now remember, this is for the greater good," he said and then he stuck her with the needle. Katairina cringed as he did and then she had nothing left to do but wait for what she knew was coming she let out a scream of agony that filled the room as she sank into a forced vision.

Upon hearing that Sloane had her, she knew she had to do something. However, she knew that she couldn't do it alone. So, with Vaughn in on it, they knew they'd need the others help too. So, they went to Dixon but as it happened, when they did, they were surprised to see that Kendall was in his office with him. Sydney saw them there and stopped short.

"Ah, Mrs. Bristow, you're just who I wanted to see," Kendall said.

"What for?" she asked and Dixon just looked at Kendall and Sydney could tell that he seemed angry with him.

"We know that you've been in contact with Taylor," Dixon replied and Sydney looked surprised but she glared at Kendall. She wanted to know how.

"We've been monitoring all your communications since Katairina's escape and before you say anything about your rights know this, we've been thinking, the DSR and I, and we want to offer you a deal."

"What deal?"

"We know that you plan on trying to free your daughter from Sloane and we'll back you, give you anything that you will need."

"In exchange for what?"

"In exchange for access to Katairina, now, before you say no, listen, she won't be a prisoner, she'll be able to come and go as she pleases, she won't have to run from us anymore."

"Why would you do this?"

"Well, we figure that we'd rather have limited access to what she can do than none at all." Sydney then seemed to size him up to see if he was telling the truth.

"I say we rescue her first and then the decision will be hers."

"Fair enough," he replied as he nodded.

"Okay then, here's what I need," Sydney replied and they both listened.

After Katairina came back to her senses she found herself with a major headache and that was not to mention how exhausted she was. In the room with her were Sloane and Kane. They were going over some papers that when she caught a glimpse of them she saw some equations and drawings. She didn't have to think to know what they were. It was then that she began to struggle again. Her anger was seething and she wanted to kill the both of them. As she started to struggle, however, that caused them both to look at her.

"Ah, you're up."

"I swear, I'm going to kill you both," she spat and Kane just smiled while coming closer to her. When he was close enough, he put his hand on her shoulder which she shook off.

"Oh, my dear, we had some rough times, this I know, but we are building a new future and that is never easy, remember what I used to tell you, the new world can only be built on the foundation of the old one and you, are the hammer." Katairina just looked away just then which was when Sloane came up to her.

"You know it doesn't have to be this way, if you'd help us with your own accord, the pain could stop."

"And what cry mercy, never, even you should know me better than that."

"Oh, I do, very well and because I do, I know that we are a lot alike which is why we should work together."

"I will never work with you and we are nothing alike."

"I know you would like to think that, but it's true and no matter what Sydney says, we belong together and I will make sure nothing comes between us again." As Katairina glared at him, he stepped back and he and Sloane exchanged glances. Sloane nodded so Kane went and picked up another syringe and headed towards her. As he did, she tried to keep on a brave face but inside, she was scared.

When Sydney got everything she needed, she sent word to Taylor who got right back to her with rendezvous coordinated.

_Bangladesh_

The street was cluttered with people as Sydney and Vaughn made their way to where they would meet up with Taylor. They went to the exact place where he told them and waited. After quite some time passed, they wondered if he would actually show up. Just as they were about to decide to leave, a waiter came up and handed them a piece of paper. Sydney took it and opened it up to read it.

"He wants us to meet him in the back room," Sydney replied and Vaughn sighed.

"I think he's being too cautious," he replied.

"Wouldn't we be," Sydney replied as she got up with Vaughn and followed the waiter. When they eventually entered the room they found Taylor there, alone. He turned to them and then nodded for the waiter to leave.

"Sorry about that, needed to make sure that you were alone."

"Well, we are, now, can we get down to business."

"Yes," he said and then he told them everything just before he handed Sydney a yellow package. She took it and opened it to reveal formulas of math that was way over her head. There was also a red liquid in a vial.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's what Kat was working on before she was taken."

"Do you know what it is?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"All I know, all she told me is that it is a way to stop Sloane once and for all." That information got both their attentions and they held up the red liquid to look at it, curiously.

Later, after an uplink was established they sent all the paperwork to Marshall to see what he could make of it. They then waited for him to get back to them which he did a few hours later. When he did, he seemed quite amazed.

"Sydney, Vaughn, hello, well, let me get to it, all I can say is wow, this is complicated, these formulas seem to deal with a level of math that hasn't even been invented yet."

"Marshall, do you know what it is?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, I looked at it along with the vial and I got help from some other chemists that were just as amazed as I was with the complexities and we came up with a hypothesis. In the simplest terms, I guess you can say it's a way to cause permanent brain death. One can combine the equations to form a serum that when added to the red liquid turns into one of the deadliest neuro-toxins I've ever seen. When injected into a subject it will cause instantaneous brain death."

"How can we know it will affect Sloane, I thought he was immortal," Sydney replied.

"He may be immortal but he is not invulnerable, if Katairina worked so hard to make it work, it'll work," Taylor explained.

"Can you synthesize the other elements?" Sydney asked.

"It's being done right now, I'll make it so that it can be administered through a dart and all you'll need is one good shot," Marshall replied. Sydney nodded, she would get that one shot if it was the last thing she did.

In order to find her, Taylor had an idea. According to him, Katairina implanted herself with a sub-dermal implant that could be used to locate her. It had been implanted in her thigh and according to her, it was so small that it wouldn't be detected by any scan. Only Katairina and Taylor had the frequency and so not even Sloane knew about it. When they had everything set, Taylor found the signal which pinpointed Katairina's exact location somewhere in Mexico City.

_Mexico City_

Katairina could barely stay conscious. She saw as Sloane and Kane went over the pages that she had drawn. She didn't see what they were and even the two of them seemed confused.

"Do you think it's incomplete?" Kane asked as he handed Sloane the papers.

"It has to be but maybe not, she will probably be able to explain," Sloane replied as he looked over to her, "however, we'll have to wait until she gets her strength back first." Just as Kane nodded, they were rocked by a sudden explosion.

"What was that?" Kane demanded just as one of the followers ran in to tell them that the CIA were here.

"Sydney!" Sloane yelled angrily.

"We need to get out of here," Kane replied and then Sloane turned to him.

"Get others to help you get Katairina out of here, but keep her well guarded," he replied and the follower nodded. He then went out the door and called for others who all went over, unstrapped and supported her. Sloane and Kane then led the way.

Sydney led her team through a long corridor and upon entering the facility, they had all gone different ways. Taylor had a locator that he was using to find Katairina's exact location in the building and Sydney and Vaughn were following him. They turned around a corner, guns raised just in time to see Sloane, an unidentified man and followers holding a barely conscious Katairina. When everyone saw each other's guns were raised, they wasted no time in using them. The followers fired first and Sydney and the others ducked for cover.

"Be careful not to hit Katairina," Sydney said as they began firing back.

When Sloane saw one of the followers go down, he was able to look for a way out. He knew the CIA's strategy and he knew they would have them surrounded soon. So, he had to move fast.

"Start falling back, I'll cover you," he said to Kane who nodded and went back with the follower who still had Katairina. As they began to fall back though, Katairina fought hard to regain full consciousness. When she managed to snap awake, she reacted fast and elbowed the guard holding her. He fell back and then she saw Kane snap his head to her. Before he could do anything, she kicked him in the face and he flew backwards. This commotion distracted Sloane and she managed to kick him. Sydney saw this and came out of hiding. Vaughn and Taylor followed her. Sloane recovered and saw them coming. He decided to cut his losses and begin running down the hallway behind him. Kane recovered and kicked Katairina's legs out from under her and she fell on the floor.

"I wish things were different, but I will find you again," he said and then began running after Sloane. That was just when Sydney and the others caught up with them. She went straight to Katairina and helped her up.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am," she said just as Taylor came up and they embraced.

"Are you sure?" he asked and Katairina nodded again.

"We have to go after them," she said urgently. They all knew this and so they nodded toward one another and Sydney led the way after them. However, before they left, Katairina made sure to pick up a gun from one of the guards and followed her mother.

Sloane knew that they were being followed and so he ran faster. Kane got next to him and then they got to two separate staircases, one going up and the other going down.

"We need to separate, they'll have to split up to get to us, when you get out we'll meet up," Sloane said as he ran.

"Okay, but I'm keeping these, not that I don't trust you," Kane replied as he held up the papers. Sloane reluctantly nodded and then they went their separate ways.

When Sydney and the others got to the stairwell and saw that Sloane and Kane had gone two different ways, they knew they would have to do the same. So, Sydney and Vaughn went after Sloane while Katairina and Taylor went after Kane.

Sydney and Vaughn both raced up the stairs that led to the roof where they came out. They had their guns ready but at first they didn't see Sloane. They thus went out silently and looked around. As they walked around a heating vent, before they knew it something heavy came out from the smoke and hit Vaughn in the face. He went down and Sydney looked to see Sloane had hit Vaughn with a metal pipe. She turned to Sloane just in time to dodge his swing at her. When he tried to hit her again he grazed her enough to cause her to drop her gun. They both then stood facing one another and when Sloane was looking at her, he dropped his pipe. This was a battle that he was going to fight the old fashioned way.

"Oh Sydney, you don't know how long I've waited for it to come to this, a good old fashioned fight between you and me, at long last."

"Probably as long as I've waited to watch you die," Sydney replied and Sloane laughed at that one.

"Well, that's not going to happen, not anymore, not after everything that's happened, there's nothing you can do to stop me now."

"That's what you think."

"You know what Sydney, I guess I did miss you and your hopeless optimism, even stuck in that hole, but no matter, this is it Sydney, no more games, I can't die but you can and you will and then I won't have any more obstacles between me and my destiny."

"You're as delusional as ever."

"You know what Sydney, I always used to think that you were special, a gift Rambaldi envisioned being important to the world but now I see you as a tool to be used and discarded when your task was done. You mean nothing, only an instrument to bring into the world Rambaldi's life works, his daughter, and now, you can be discarded. The one thing I regret is not doing this ages ago." Sydney listened to him talk and the whole time she just got annoyed. The last thing she cared about was Arvin Sloane's opinions.

"You know, you can talk all you want, you know nothing, especially about a man whose been dead for hundreds of years and I'll do whatever I have to make sure you join him."

"So be it, let's get this over with then," Sloane replied and then they both took a moment just before each beginning their attack.

Katairina and Taylor burst through the outside doors just behind Kane. When he knew that he was being followed, he spun around, gun in hand and began to fire. Katairina and Taylor ducked for cover. Kane knew he had to get to one of the cars to make his escape. He saw where he had to go but that would leave him open for attack.

"It doesn't have to be this way Katairina!" he yelled to her, "we could work together to bring about a better world."

"I think I can do that by myself," she yelled back and she looked around and they saw one another. Kane then quickly got up and began to fire to cover his escape. Katairina moved over to an empty space between the two crates she was hiding behind and pointed her gun. Kane was running fast but Katairina was a good shot. She got him in her sights and hesitated only a moment before shooting. He was hit straight in the back and went down. After he did, she and Taylor got out from where they were hiding and walked up to him. He was trying hard to breathe as they stood over him.

"You always said you would kill me, I guess you were right," he stammered, looking at her. Katairina didn't say anything, she just stared him as he slowly stopped breathing. After a few moments Taylor looked at her, but she didn't seem to have an expression on her face.

"I thought I'd get more satisfaction out of this," she replied.

"You're not a killer, those who get satisfaction out of killing are those who don't care and that is definitely not you, you care too much," Taylor explained and that caused a smile from her as she knelt down and took the papers that he had on him.

"What are those?" he asked.

"They thought that it was design for a weapon."

"But it's not?"

"No, it's not, actually, it's a map."

"A map to where?" Taylor questioned and she just looked at him.

"I don't know," she replied, "I don't know."

Up on the roof, Sydney was not doing well against Sloane. Even though Sydney was in better fighting condition, Sloane had the advantage of being immortal. After she got a good shot in, they both stood facing one another again.

"Why don't you ever know when you're outmatched Sydney."

"Because I rarely am, especially with you, no matter what you've become."

"What I've become, what I've become is something beyond comparison, something no one can stop."

"I can and I will."

"Always so confident aren't we?" he laughed, "Rambaldi has made me undefeatable and soon his final prophecy will come true, we will bring about utter desolation." Sydney glared at him, knowing what he meant by 'we.' That just served to fuel the anger she felt for him.

"Like I said, never going to happen."

"I remember when I used to think of you as my daughter, but in reality, my real daughter is Katairina only." With that, Sydney didn't want to hear anymore. This was the man who had killed his own daughter, her sister, and now he was talking about her daughter as a possession which she would not put up with. Talking was done, for the both of them and so the attack began again. Sydney attacked first, swinging hard at him in the face. She then wasted no time in hitting him with a swinging kick which hit him square in the chest. Her next blow, however, was blocked and he swung at her. His blow caused her to fly backwards and hit the ground. Although, as she fell she looked to her side and saw the dart gun that she had dropped. Sloane was standing over her with a look of triumphant on his face.

"You can't stop destiny Sydney, you never could," he said about to strike a final blow. However, before he could do that, Sydney moved with lightning speed and grabbed the gun.

"I got your destiny right here," she said and she wasted no time in aiming and firing. The dart him in the chest and he gasped. He immediately began to feel the effects of the serum.

"What have you done?" he asked as he began to sway. He then grabbed his head as if it was going to explode.

"Gratitude from Katairina." Sloane didn't or couldn't speak, instead, he fell to his knees. The angry look didn't leave his face as he slowly collapsed. When he did, Sydney heard a noise and looked to see that Katairina and Taylor had made their way up and saw that the battle was over. Both Katairina and Sydney shared a look and Katairina smiled, relieved. This part of the nightmare at least, was over.

Later, Sydney felt a lot lighter than she had been in those past months. Sloane's body had been taken where no one could find him and everything else was put back to normal. As things returned to what they were before, Katairina went into negotiations with the DSR and CIA. She wanted that to get done with fast so that she could get back to some semblance of normal, at least for her. They got things squared away and after much decision making, she decided to stay in L.A. She wanted to figure out what she had drawn while captured. It would take a little work but she was determined. She was in a room working on it and getting frustrated when Taylor came in.

"You've been at this for days, you need to get away for awhile," he suggested. She continued to pour over her papers without looking up.

"No, I need to continue . . . especially now." Taylor nodded because he knew what she really meant.

"You know we could do what we usually do, on that particular day coming up," he said, but she stayed silent. He let it drop because Sydney came in.

"How are things going in here?" she asked.

"Slow," she said, very sternly. Sydney looked to Taylor who just shook his head, in sympathy.

"Do you need anything?" she asked.

"Silence," she said again, sternly and Sydney decided to leave her be. Both Taylor and Sydney then left. When they were outside, Taylor turned to Sydney.

"Sorry about that, she's in a mood."

"She's focused."

"Well, yeah, that, but also . . ." he then trailed off and she looked at him.

"What?"

"Well, she'd probably kill me for telling you this but in two days it's her birthday and she gets a little anxious during that time." Sydney was shocked about that, she never really thought about it.

"Her birthday, really?"

"Yeah, good ole April 7th, I'm surprised you never figured it out."

"Figured out what?"

"April 7th, you know, 4, 7, those numbers and Rambaldi." Right then, it hit her and she understood.

"47, yes." The number 47 had always been important to Rambaldi and they never understood why but now they did. Sydney knew the number would be important to anyone if it was the day that their only daughter was born.

"Yeah, usually on this day she just holes herself up and works. Sometimes we do things on my insistence. I can make her do a lot of things but it's hard to convince her."

"So, she doesn't like to do things to celebrate."

"They were always rough for her when she was younger for obvious reasons. But later, she never knew how to celebrate." After he finished speaking, his last statement got her thinking. "You know what, I think I can remedy that," she said and that got a quizzical look from Taylor.

As expected, it took a lot of work for Taylor to pry her away from her work. He insisted though and she thus followed him. He wouldn't tell her where they were going even though she wanted to know. They drove to Sydney's house and when they were getting close and she figured out where they were going, she called him on it.

"Why are we going to Sydney's?"

"It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"That's just because you never had a good one." She huffed but stayed in her seat. When they finally arrived at her house, they both got out.

"You know, I really don't like this," she said, but they had reached the door.

"You will," he said, just before he opened it. When he did, she found a lot of people in there and they all yelled "surprise." She saw this and was actually taken back. She had never expected something like this in her whole life. She couldn't help it, but she smiled. Sydney was right there in the lead, along with Vaughn, little Jack, Isabelle, Dixon and the others. Katairina looked around and saw that things were all set up for her birthday. She had never had anything like this before and didn't really know how to react. So, she just smiled as everyone told her happy birthday. She thanked them and then turned to Taylor.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

"Actually, it wasn't my idea."

"Then who?" As she said that, he turned his head towards Sydney and so did she. She looked to her mother and grinned.

"Yes, guilty," Sydney said, after overhearing, "I hope you like it?"

"Oh, it's great; I never expected something like this, ever."

"Well, I figured, after all you've been through, I think your birthday should be celebrated."

"I never celebrated a birthday before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Taylor replied.

"Yes, and I suggest you make the most of it," Sydney replied and Katairina agreed. She actually intended too, for the first time in her life.

Sydney was with Dixon having a drink and watching everyone. Sydney mainly had her eyes on Katairina who was playing with Isabelle and Jack. Taylor was on the couch watching them and they all seemed to be having a great time.

"She seems happy," Dixon said.

"Yeah, she does." Sydney looked troubled still and so Dixon asked her.

"What is it?"

"She's been through a lot, I'm glad she can actually forget her troubles. I know what it's like to want that."

"Well, you got through it, so will she."

"I hope so, I really do."

A few days, after probably the best day that Katairina had, she ultimately knew she had to get back to work. She went on deciphering what she had written during her capture. When Sydney found Katairina and Taylor, they were looking into a computer screen which had a location flashing on it.

"I'm guessing you found what you were looking for?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Taylor said.

"So, where are we heading?" Sydney asked.

"How do you feel about the jungle?" Katairina asked and Sydney took a deep breath.

_**The Amazon**_

The opening to the cavern was hidden behind some vines that had overgrown the entrance.

"Is this it?" Taylor asked as Katairina pushed through the vines.

"This is it, I can feel it." With one last look, she was the first to enter with Taylor following her and then Sydney and Vaughn. The entrance led to a long, narrow and very low ceiling passageway. Everyone had to duck low to go down the steep hall. They kept going down and down with Katairina leading the way. It seemed to go on forever until finally their claustrophobia ended and the dank hallway led to an opening that once they entered, Sydney recalled the cavern that had housed Rambaldi's tomb. It was a large room with an altar sitting in the middle. On that altar was a medium sized chest. On it, engraved in front, was the symbol of Rambaldi. Sydney glanced to her daughter whose eyes locked onto it.

"What do we do now?" Vaughn asked and in response Katairina, whose eyes were still locked on the chest, walked straight up to it. Everyone followed but only after she reached it and looked down at the top with a softening look on her face. They later saw that Katairina's name was edged into it. Sydney looked to that and then to Katairina who ran her fingers slowly over it, gently, one letter at a time. Finally, she went to the lock and flicked it open. There was small whooshing sound as it unlocked. When she opened the lid, they all looked inside. There, in a small glass vial, was a reddish orange liquid with a small piece of parchment folded in front of it. Katairina picked up the parchment first and carefully opened it. It was old and wrinkled but it unfolded quite nicely. It was written in a language they couldn't read, however by the look on Katairina's face, she could.

"What does it say?" Taylor asked. She didn't answer right away but soon did.

"This is my father's hand writing," she said and then she looked to Sydney, "it says, 'my voice.' They all glanced at one another, each with a confused look on their faces.

"What does that mean?" Vaughn asked.

_**Los Angeles**_

Everyone stood around and watched as Katairina opened the chest and took out the vial to hand to Marshall for analysis. He carefully took and opened it. He took a minute drop to begin his analysis.

"This may take awhile," he said and they nodded.

There was lot of waiting while Marshall worked on the sample. Everyone stayed close so they would be ready when he was done. After a few hours Marshall showed up and he looked shocked and a little weirded out. They all saw him and stood up to face him immediately.

"I know I've said this before, but you're father amazes me to no end," he said looking to Katairina.

"What is it Marshall?" Sydney asked.

"Well, it's so complicated, I don't know how to explain it."

"Try," Katairina replied.

"Well, the letter that says, 'my voice' is dead on. From what I can tell, whatever that serum is inside the vial, it is designed to mimic the brain pattern of someone, every neuron signal." Upon hearing that, everyone looked to one another except for Katairina, she just looked straight ahead and never took her eyes off the vial he held in his hand.

"So you're saying I can actually speak to my father?" she asked.

"My guess is that someone injects this and their brain function will temporarily be replaced by Rambaldi's."

"Are you sure it will be temporary?" Sydney asked.

"Well, there is not enough serum to take over for a long time, it would eventually work its way out of their system, the question is though, who would do it?" When Marshall asked that everyone remained silent. Vaughn thought long and hard and then made his decision very firmly.

"I'll do it," he said and everyone stared straight at him quickly.

"What?" Sydney stated.

"I'll do it, you said it was temporary right, I'll be fine."

"Why would you do this?" Katairina asked and she and Vaughn looked at each other.

"This could help us and . . . there are other reasons, but mainly that."

"Vaughn are you sure?" All he did, was nod, very firmly.

They then ran everything past Dixon and Kendall who had come, basically ran, from Washington when he found out about what they had found in the Amazon. They heard about it all and he considered the options. Whatever Rambaldi had to relay, it was important enough for him to make sure Katairina was the one to find it. Kendall reluctantly agreed and so they got ready for the procedure.

Katairina, Vaughn, Sydney, Kendall, Dixon, Marshall, and Rachel went to another room, a private one where there was enough space to fit everyone. There were also doctor's there just in case things didn't go as planned. He was hooked up to a brain scan monitor also, just in case. Marshall had the syringe ready for injection and when Vaughn was ready, they knew it was time.

"I don't know if this will hurt," Marshall said.

"It's okay, I'm guessing whatever it is, I can handle it," he said.

"I hope so," Marshall replied and then he got ready to inject.

"Wait, Vaughn, I just want to say, thank you, even if it doesn't work, I want to say thank you," Katairina replied and she and Vaughn shared a look.

"You're welcome, no matter what happens," he said and she nodded. With all that said Vaughn prepared himself. Marshall went slow and tried to go as easy as he could. As he injected the needle, there was a little painfully but he'd had worse. Everyone then waited for a reaction and when nothing immediately happened, they wondered if it would. Suddenly, he seemed in pain and held his head in his hands. Sydney rushed up to him when he did so.

"Vaughn, Vaughn, are you okay?" she asked, concerned. There was a moment of silence before there was a beeping on the brain scan and they all watched as Vaughn's readings changed from simple to erratic. The erratic pattern changed fast to a very different pattern and it was then that 'Vaughn' lifted his head. However, when they looked into his eyes, they knew that Vaughn was no longer there. Everyone stepped back except for Katairina, she never took her eyes off him. He looked around as if confused but then he looked to Katairina and Sydney who were standing side by side. Recognition went over his face and he smiled.

"My girls," he said, very slowly.

"Father?" Katairina asked as she got closer to him and knelt down in front of him. As she did so, he took his hand and put it on her cheek, gently.

"It is I my daughter, I'm so happy it worked, I wasn't sure it would."

"Welcome to the new century," she said with a hint of tears in her eyes and he grinned. He then looked around again at the new faces.

"As interesting as it is," he said and then Kendall came forward.

"Mr. Rambaldi, my name is Kendall, I'm part of the government of the United States of America . ." before he could finish, Rambaldi lifted up his hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kendall, but as much as I know how much information you want from me, I made this serum so that I could relay dire information that could have dramatic impacts on your future." They all then got very serious and waited for his continuation.

"What could be so serious that you would risk this?" Sydney asked and he shared a look with her.

"Dear Sydney, your life, the life of my daughter, the lives of everyone means more to me than anything and I would risk it all to protect you."

"What do you have to say?" Katairina asked and he looked back to her.

"Your future is in danger from a threat of the past. This may sound complicated and it will be a difficult fight. You must first understand that my death, at this point was not an accident, I was betrayed . . ."

_Flashback_

The prison door shut tight and Milo looked out the other end to the face he used to know so well. That face smiled smugly at him and Milo was going to be sick.

"Oh Milo, why do you look at me so?"

"You know full well, how could you do this to me, you, of all people," Milo pleaded.

"You have to understand, things could have been different if you had listened to me."

"Listened to you, you manipulated everything to get what you wanted. You used people and you used me," he spat and at that, a huge grin appeared on his brother's face.

"Perhaps you're right, but things could have been so different. However, I now have everything I need and your unwillingness to help me has landed you here. Your execution will commence, I hope you die with dignity, luckily I won't have to, farewell, my brother." He then began to walk away but it wasn't all.

"You won't get away with this Alexander, I will stop you somehow, I swear it, brother or no brother, you will fall!" He was gone and Milo was alone, or so he thought. After a little while, there was an unlock and he looked up to see the guards bring in another prisoner who they put in his cell. They said nothing before they left and the two were alone. Milo sat thinking when the man came to sit across from him.

"I've heard of you, you are Milo Rambaldi the one who was condemned by the Pope.".

"That doesn't matter anymore, who did this to me, my fate is set." He said that with such a deflated tone that the man looked at him sadly.

"You know, I believed you," he said and Rambaldi looked at him, "that is why I am here, I wanted people to know that I believed you. Rambaldi then got a far off look on his face and blinked several times.

"I understand, finally," he said and the man looked confused a little. Rambaldi then stood up and began to pace, "I can fix this," then he turned to the man, "I'm going to need your help . . . . . my rose." At that time, the man looked at his hand where there was a rose burned into it. He had, had it for many years. He always knew there was more to this world than what everyone saw.

"Anything you need," he said and Rambaldi nodded.

Later, Rambaldi was standing in his cell and talked to the other individual on the outside. This person was a priest along with being one of his most loyal followers.

"I could get you out of here, sir," he said.

"No Vinciourio, no matter what, my destiny is set. All I need is for you to get me the things that I asked for." Viciourio then looked down sadly before he brought out a small package and handed it through the bars.

"It took a lot to smuggle this in here, but you know I'd do anything for you."

"I know and I will appreciate it forever." The two of them then shared a look and Viciourio nodded before he walked away. Rambaldi then turned away and slowly opened the package as the rose came up to him.

"What do you have there?" he asked.

"The continuation of my legacy and my justice," he said as they both looked at the contents. Rambaldi smiled and the rose looked at him, wondering what it was and what he was going to do with it.

_End Flashback_

As everyone listened to his story, some were confused and for some, realization hit but they stayed silent. For those who were confused, Katairina put things together.

"Your brother betrayed you and that is why you died."

"Yes, but the complication does not end there. I used what Viciourio had given me to create this way to talk to you."

"And give the rose the serum you used for immortality so he could give it to Sloane." At that Rambaldi looked deeply disturbed.

"I cannot apologize for what has happened, I wish I could nor can I explain why things had to happen the way that they did to lead things to the way they are now. You'll find out, as you may have already, certain things can be changed some for the better, some for the worse."

"Meaning what?" Sydney asked.

"Does this have anything to do with the threat you were talking about?" Katairina asked.

"More than you know, the threat that you face now is the same one I faced then. If you thought that Arvin Sloane's immortality was a problem, try one who's been immortality for a lot longer. The threat that endangers you now is my brother, he is still alive and he aspires to destroy you all." That information hit them all harder than they could imagine.

"Wait, your brother, is alive, you're saying that he's immortal?" Dixon asked.

"I thought we were really close, we worked together for years, but it wasn't until later that I saw him for what he really was. He is evil beyond imagination and he used me to get what he wanted. He then accused me of heresy and the Pope listened to him. His accusation got me killed but not before I got this out so I could warn you, so you could stop him. You're the only one who can," he said all of this and then looked to Katairina and she to him.

"How, if he's immortal, how can he be stopped. We can't do it the same way we did Sloane. How can we even find him?" Katairina asked.

"There is always a way, look inside yourself and you will find it," he said and then he seemed to cringe, "it seems, I'm almost done with my interlude." At that, Katairina grew concerned.

"No, you can't be, there's still so much more we have to talk about, so much more that I have to ask," she started to plead.

"I know and I wish I could, but time will always get in our way. All you need to know is that I love you, always, forever, eternally and I leave you in good hands." He then looked to Sydney who nodded, in agreement. He then turned his attention back to her.

"My dear, we are linked through a gift we both share and so in turn, we shall never truly be apart." He then began to feel the effects of the reversal and Katairina knew what was coming.

"Please, father, you can't go, please," she begged again, this time starting to cry. He looked at her very kindly and rubbed her face gently.

"My love, my sweet child, my life began and ended with you no matter where we exist, I will always be with you, just be sure to fulfill your true destiny." He then leaned close to her and whispered something in her ear. When he was done, she looked at him oddly but he just smiled at her, sweetly. Soon, they were seeing that he was leaving and Vaughn was returning.

"I love you dad," she said and then he smiled at her as he slowly closed his eyes. He went silent and still for a moment before all of a sudden Vaughn gasped. Sydney was by his side in an instant as Katairina stepped back to compose herself.

"Vaughn, is that you?" she asked softly. He looked at her for a few long moments before nodding.

"Yeah, hon, it's me." She smiled at him as he seemed to compose himself, "what happened?"

"You don't remember?" she asked.

"All I remember is taking the serum and then seeing your face now. What happened, did you talk to Rambaldi?"

"Yeah and we have lot to tell you and a lot to plan for," she replied.

After filling Vaughn in with everything, along with the rest of the heads of the CIA, a manhunt was initiated. The problem was finding one person in billions. Katairina thought about what her father had told her about finding a way by looking inside herself. After some contemplation, she found herself in Marshall's office. She was standing there looking at his things as he walked in. He saw her and looked at her oddly.

"Katairina, did you need something?" he asked.

"No, I was just looking around, thinking," she replied.

"Well if it's about trying to find . . . .well, your uncle, I guess," she looked at him strangely, "we're all trying to find him too."

"I know, but there is something that I am missing on how to find him," she said and she would have continued but something caught her eye. Marshall caught her looking at a picture of his son's.

"You like that," he said smiling, "my boy loves to draw, he's getting good don't you think?" Katairina smiled back and then looked back at the drawing. Right then, something struck her and she turned to Marshall who looked back at her, confused.

"Thanks Marshall, that helps," she said as she rushed out.

Sydney heard that Katairina had found something and so she went to see what it was. When she found her, she seemed to be drawing but with her eyes closed. Taylor stood a little ways away, just waiting. Sydney came in silently and stood beside him.

"What's she doing?" she asked.

"Katairina believes that she can use her visions to draw what Alexander looks like, but it hasn't worked yet. If she gets that, than we can focus our search. She's trying to focus but it's been difficult, she has a lot on her mind." With that, they both kept silent and waited. Katairina sat there, concentrating hard with a pen in her hand and a blank piece of paper in front of her. They all waited until it seemed that she seemed to inherently pick up the paper. She then took the pen and began to draw. As she did, Sydney and Taylor watched over her shoulder. The picture came together very slowly but soon they had a face and when Katairina came back to her senses, she seemed exhausted and nearly fell over. Taylor managed to catch her though and she held onto him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay, did I do it?"she asked as Sydney picked up the paper. They all looked at it and what they saw was an older man, not very peculiarly looking seeing as how if this was Alexander, he was hundreds of years old.

"So, if this is Alexander, then we can put his face in the image database, I'm guessing, in all the time he's been alive someone must have recorded it," Sydney replied and they agreed. Slowly, Katairina stood up and took the picture out of her mother's hands to look at it closely. They both looked at her and they noticed that she had an odd expression on her face.

"Katairina, are you sure you're okay?" Sydney asked. She didn't speak for awhile and so they waited.

"We have to find him, as soon as possible," she replied, but they both noticed a hint of sheer hatred in her voice. They didn't know how deep it went, her hatred, but they didn't like to see it.

Later, they did just as Sydney had suggested. They put his image into their computers and then waited. Katairina stayed right by the computer as it shifted through all its files. Sydney and Taylor watched her until finally the computer began spitting out results. Turns out, the man known as Alexander, got around. His image showed up in dozens of places and a lot of them were historical events. Some of them went as far back as the Lincoln assassination while others were mainly war related. He was found to be somewhat involved in every major war since he was old enough to sense.

"He seems to make it a point to be involved in anything that's ever been important in history," Taylor suggested.

"I don't care what he's done or where he's been, I want to know where he is, now," Katairina stated. Everyone looked to her but then Sydney went to pull out the last sheet of paper the computer spit out. She looked at it and then turned to everyone else.

"Looks like the last time he was sited was in Moscow a week ago."

"We should go," she said and Sydney looked to Dixon. He just took a deep breath and nodded. Things were settled, they were heading to Russia.

When they were on the plane heading there, Katairina was sitting looking out the window. Taylor was sitting next to her and Sydney was with Vaughn. She was looking at her, studying her.

"What are you thinking?" Vaughn asked her.

"I'm just trying to figure out what she's thinking."

"Oh?"

"I can't begin to think what it's like to be her and now I can't even imagine what she's thinking."

"Well we are going all the way to Moscow to basically try and find her uncle who is by the way, around 560 odd years old. If I were to guess, I'd say she's a little anxious," Vaughn replied.

"Yeah well, I'm going to talk to her," she said and then she got up and walked over to her. He watched her go and thought himself.

Taylor watched her come over and she smiled at him.

"Can I talk to her for a second?" she asked and he nodded.

"I'll go over there," he said, pointing to the other side of the plane where Vaughn was sitting. He then went there while Katairina kept staring out the window. Sydney sat down beside her and stayed silent for only a moment.

"Are you going to be okay to do this?" she asked.

"I have to be don't I?"

"It's okay if you're not, this is kind of big. Alexander is . . ."

"He's the man that is responsible for the death of my father." That caused Sydney to pause. She knew that type of pain; she felt it for Sloane who had killed her own father. However, she knew what that kind of rage could do. She didn't want to see it hurt her in any way.

"If we find him, it might be hard for you but I was wondering if you would let us handle him, just until we get to a more manageable situation." That got Katairina to look at her.

"I know you're trying to help but I need to be there, I need to face him, see into his eyes. I don't know if you'll be able to understand." She then turned back towards the window and stared. She did understand, but she didn't know what to say and so she stayed silent.

_Moscow_

After contacting Marshall one they arrival, he told them that he had been last seen at the Taganka Theatre. They would have all headed there but Marshall also told them that he had also been seen at the Andronikov Monastery. He had been there for quite some time and when they heard that they wanted to know why he spent so much time there. So, it was decided that they would need to split up. Sydney, Vaughn and Katairina planned on going to the theatre. Taylor volunteered to go to with the rest of the team to the monastery. Katairina didn't want to split up, but she knew they had to.

"Hey, be careful," she said to him and he smiled at her. He then kissed her and her him.

"You know me," he said and then began to walk away. When he was a little ways away he turned back to her, smiling.

"Hey, love you," he said and she smiled bigger.

"Ditto," she said back to him and that caused him to smile. He then led the team away and she went with Sydney and Vaughn. It didn't take them long to get there and they made sure to enter very silently. They went in tactically and the theatre was closed which made it easier. They searched and it was Sydney who heard a ruckus which they went to investigate. There was a basement where the noise was coming from and when they entered the level, they saw a few individuals there. They had their backs to them and they seemed to be studying something on a table in front of them. They wasted no time in making their selves known.

"Freeze!" Sydney yelled and they all held up weapons at them. The men quickly turned around and stared. They immediately knew that Alexander wasn't one of these men, but they kept their guns pointed anyway.

"Where's Alexander?" Katairina demanded but the men just continued to stare.

Taylor and the other team entered the church cautiously. They all separated to search better and Taylor was in the main hall standing looking up at the giant cross. There was silence when he heard a noise and he quickly turned around to come face to face with a man. Upon first glance he knew it was Alexander. He was completely taken back and it stopped him where he stood.

Katairina was running out of patience. They hadn't said a word and so she went up to one of them and pointed the gun right in his face. He didn't flinch though and he seemed to stare right in her eyes.

"Where . . . is . . . Alexander?" she asked, very slowly and carefully.

"You're her aren't you, the One," he said, but she didn't answer. Sydney and Vaughn exchanged glances but kept their guns aimed.

"Just tell us what we want to know," Sydney said. The man looked to her and then back to Katairina.

"He said if you showed up, to tell you, he was sorry to miss you, but he has his plans to follow through with."

"What type of plans?" Katairina asked. This was when the man grinned.

"Plans for you."

"Where is he doing this?" Vaughn asked.

"God only knows," he said and he smiled as if he had made a joke. That just made Katairina so angry that she hit him. He went down and she backed off. The other men didn't move they just stared. As she backed away she thought about his last statement. It didn't sound like a joke to her. Something occurred to her just then and she took a sharp breath and turned back to her mother.

"We have to get to the monastery . . .now!"

Taylor saw him and stopped, but only for a moment. He soon swung at him but Alexander easily dodged it.

Katairina was in the car and the whole time she stared straight ahead. Her whole mind was focused on getting to the monastery. However, she couldn't help having a thick knot in her stomach. She could sense something but didn't know what it was going to be just that it was going to be bad.

As Alexander dodged him he came at him yet again. They fought some more but soon it was Alexander who got the upper hand. He got behind him and pulled his hand behind him. He held him tight and even though he tried to struggle he couldn't move. Alexander was strong and held him tight. Every time he did tried to fight it just hurt his arm more and that sent reverberations through his entire body.

"Don't try to get away, it's over," Alexander said.

"How did you know we were looking for you?"

"You'd be surprised by what I know."

"What do you want?" Taylor demanded.

"I'd think that it would be obvious by now." It was obvious to Taylor and that just made him fight harder, to no avail.

"You're not going to touch her," Taylor seethed and Alexander smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about my dear niece, in time, she will come to me. However, she is good and so I need her to be a little sloppy in her actions and that task is up to me. Unfortunally for you though, it's going to hurt more." After he said that, faster than Taylor could blink Alexander pulled out a dagger and quickly slashed it across his throat. Taylor gasped and then he was released. Alexander watched him fall as he held onto his bleeding neck. He fell all the way to the ground and the blood from his wound spooled all around him. He looked down at his body and grinned. He then took his blade, wiped it on his pants and slowly walked away, very aloof.

Katairina and the others finally reached the monastery and she basically ran to the door. However, she found it locked which was odd. She tried to force it open but it wouldn't budge. It was moving though and so when Sydney and Vaughn arrived, they helped her try to force it open. Soon enough, they managed to force it open. Katairina almost fell through but she caught herself. When she looked in front of her the first thing she saw was a body lying on the ground with blood all around them. Almost immediately it seemed she knew, but she had to be sure. Sydney must have known too because she tried to hold her back but she ran forward forcibly. She got closer and closer until finally she basically fell onto Taylor's body. From the amount of blood coming from his wound in his neck, she knew. She seemed in shock and couldn't seem to do anything but stare. When it did finally hit her was when Sydney had arrived by her side. She tried to console her, but she would have none of it because the tears began to flow. Her rage, anger and sorrow came out as she cried, holding the dead body of her heart in her arms.

Reinforcements had arrived and they found no one else there. No signs were left that anyone had ever been there. Katairina had not moved from Taylor's side and when finally it was time to move, she still seemed in shock. She watched them as they moved him and everything after that was a daze.

_Los Angeles_

Sydney was with Dixon and everyone else as they were discussing what had happened. They could all see Katairina sitting outside the office, looking ahead. She was obviously still in shock and they couldn't do anything for her.

"Are you sure that Alexander was there, that he was the one who had killed Taylor."

"Interviewing some people around recognized him as being in the vicinity," Vaughn replied. Sydney was listening but the whole time she was looking at Katairina.

"Sydney, how is she?" Dixon asked and she finally looked at him.

"I think she's barely holding it together."

"What are we going to do next?" Rachel asked and that was when they got into that.

Katairina finally seemed to blink and looked to the guard standing by her.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said and the guard nodded as he led her to the restroom. She went inside and went immediately to the mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror and then happened to glance at her hands. It was then that she noticed that she still had a hint of dried blood on them. It was then that a feeling of utter sickness came over her and she turned the water on. She had to get it off and so she scrubbed and scrubbed. When finally it was all gone she was hyperventilating and then she looked again at herself in the mirror. This time though, she saw something else when she looked into her own eyes. It was then that a certain and absolute resolution came over her and she knew what she was going to do.

Sydney and the others still hadn't come up with something to do when the guard who was supposed to be watching Katairina came rushing in.

"She's gone," he said and Sydney took a deep breath.

_Bolivia_

The entire plane ride to where she was going, Katairina's entire mind was set on one goal. It wasn't hard to get away because she was after all, her. Finally she arrived at her destination, an underground cavern in the middle of nowhere. When she had gotten away from her captors when she was younger she had, had a goal. Her seething rage and anger was the same at it is then. When she felt this way there was only one thing that she wanted, revenge and she was going to get it. To do that, she needed what was here and in other places like it. She needed weapons and a lot of them. Some things that even Sydney didn't know about were there. Weapons the likes of which no one had ever seen. She opened the silo doors and looked at the hundreds of weapons in front of her. As she did so, she grinned maliciously and went in immediately. She loaded herself up with all she could carry and then went to find her dear uncle to show him how much he didn't want to mess with her.

_New York_

Katairina stood outside the giant office building with a long trench coat on so that she could conceal all the weapons she had on her. The building had detectors but those were a mere sidestep. After visiting her weapon supply locker that was on the upper floor, she went deeper down. The reason she had chosen the locker in Bolivia was because it also had a lower level. This lower level was where she had, had a computer set-up. She used that to search everywhere for a possible location of Alexander. Something in her, told her that he would leave her a trail to follow, something that only she would be able to see. As it turned out, she was right. From Russia she was able to trace him to the States, New York in particular. So, she headed straight there and got there as fast as she could. So, here she was, in front of the building that after research found out belonged to and Alexander Rambalski. She didn't think that it was funny at all and it just seemed to anger her more. She took a deep breath and made her way in. She entered through the spinning doors and came right to the metal detector. There were a lot of people going in and out and she went in. She didn't flinch and she activated her device she had that temporarily deactivated the detector. While the guards were busy trying to find out what was wrong, she slipped inside, undetected.

Alexander was in his office on the top floor looking out his window to the street below when one of his aids came in. He rushed in but then stopped when he was in front of him. Alexander didn't even turn around to look at him.

"What is it?" he asked, very calmly.

"You wanted to know if anything out of the ordinary happened and well, it's small, but we are having a problem with the metal detectors at the front entrance. I don't know if that is what you meant, but . . ."

"That's exactly what I need to know, thank you," he said and the aid nodded, "she's here."

Once she was in, she began to head for the elevator. However, before she could get there, a guard caught sight of her.

"Hey, stop!" he yelled and she did, but she didn't turn around. Some more guards joined the first.

"Put your hands up," the first said and Katairina slowly did so. The guards thought that this was going to be simple but she wasn't going to let it be. As they began to make their way towards her, she opened her closed hand which had a detonator in it. She hit the small button and within seconds the ground beneath them began to shake. Before she entered the building, she had made a trip to the sewers below. While down there she had set up what would cause seismic tremors that would run shake the building to the ground if she let it. She started the tremors small but enough to knock everyone, not prepared, off their feet. She stood fast and when they figured that she had something to do with it, they pointed their guns at her. She turned and saw this and cranked up the power on her device. The shaking got worse and she made her move when it did. She took out the guard's guns first and then kicked them hard enough to keep him down. Other guards came at her, but she pulled out her weapons and fired. They went down immediately but they weren't dead, only close to it. At this point, she didn't care, she had to get to Alexander and no one was going to stop her.

Sydney was at the computer with Vaughn trying to find out where Katairina had gone but it they weren't having any luck. They had been at this since she left and with all this time she could be anywhere. Finally, it was Rachel who came up with Marshall and looked like they had something. She knew them well enough to know this.

"What is it?" she asked them.

"We've been looking all over the world for signs of unusual activity and we found something that fits," Rachel replied.

"What is it?" Vaughn asked.

"Try an earthquake centered in a building." Once Sydney heard that, she knew it was Katairina and she wasn't going to waste another moment without acting.

Katairina finished with the guards and then finally got on the elevator. She hit the top floor because she knew that was where he would be. The whole time she headed up, she focused on seeing him. She had seen an image of him in her head but it wasn't the same thing as seeing him face to face. She was about to see the man who she doesn't know but who had basically ripped her heart out. Now, she was going to repay the favor. Soon, there was a ding and the doors opened. She walked out and into a giant office with him sitting right there at his desk, writing on some papers. She stopped for a second and just stared. He didn't seem to notice that she was there. She then went determinedly towards him and he looked up at her. The minute he saw her, he smiled but she was completely serious.

"You're finally here," he said.

"You've been expecting me?"

"For hundreds of years," he said as he stood up.

"Yeah, well, it's going to end for you, real soon."

"You sound sure."

"Do you doubt me?" At that, he tilted his head as if studying her.

"You know before we get to this inevitable battle you have in your mind, we should talk, we need to talk." Katairina just looked at him for a long moment.

"You want to talk, let's talk, let's talk about the lives you've destroyed and the people you've killed."

"Oh, you mean that fella of yours, dear girl, he would only have held you back."

"Held me back from what?" she demanded and then he began coming towards her.

"From your full potential," he began but as he got closer, she held up one of her guns at him even though she knew it wouldn't help. He was immortal and it was going to take a lot more than this to kill him. It did make her feel a little better to do it though. It actually did cause him to stop.

"What do you know of my potential?"

"Because I saw what your father could do." Right there she fired and the bullet hit him in the shoulder. He grabbed at it in pain but only for a moment. Soon, the blood stopped and she could vaguely see that the wound through his shirt had healed.

"You have no right to talk about him, I know you had him killed, he told me." Alexander smiled at that and laughed a little.

"I should have known he would have found a way to communicate with you, he never did like to leave things unsettled."

"Yes, and now you're going to pay for it."

"Well, as you may have noticed from your little show of gunfire, I don't die easy, so what did you really expect to accomplish here?"

"I may not be able to kill you but I can fight you even if it means I'll die doing it."

"Die," he said, laughing, "is that why you're here, is that what you want?" He asked that and they seemed to lock eyes and he saw that, that was exactly what she wanted. He then actually looked a little sad.

"Did he really mean that much to you?" he asked her and she had to fight back tears. She wasn't going to let him see her cry or anything else, "no," he continued, "you're not going to die, but fight if you must." He then opened himself up as if motioning for her to attack. At that moment, she let everything go and stopped caring. She did attack, she fought him and he actually let her hit him, over and over again. She put all her strength behind it and he did bleed, but he healed. Soon, she had to stop and pull back. When she did she put her hands on her knees and bent down while taking a few ragged deep breaths. Alexander just stood up straight and began to wipe the blood from his face. He was no worse for wear and looked at her, a little sadly.

"Oh, sweet child, I see your pain, but you have to get over it, you have to be strong if you're meant to do all the things you're supposed to."

"And you know what that is?"

"Of course, there is much you don't know but from this little show and the fact that I'm sure the people downstairs are still alive, I know that you're not ready, but you will be. Until then though, let me give this to you as a parting gift. This is how you really hurt someone." Right after he said that, he kicked her hard in the face. She fell backwards and landed on her back. That fall caused the wind to be knocked out of her. He didn't stop there though; he hit her again and again. The wounds on her, didn't heal and that caused more blood on her to pour out. She was on the ground, in pain but still holding in her emotions. When he was finally done, he looked down at her.

"I don't like doing this to you, but I will if you make me, so don't make me next time." He then stood up straight, smoothed out his clothes and walked away. She was in too much pain to follow him and so she just lay there.

Sydney and Vaughn made it to the building and found it in near shambles. There were a lot of people injured from falling debris and everything was in disarray that others was trying to put back together. Due to that, it didn't take long for them to make their way to the top floor. When they got on the elevator they didn't see that coming out of the other one was Alexander. He came out and made his way for the doors. They went upstairs and the minute Sydney saw Katairina trying to stand, she ran over to her. She tried to help her, but she fought her.

"He's getting away," she said, "did you see him?'

"No, Katairina, you need a doctor."

"No, I need to get him."

"I think you tried that and it looks like it didn't work," Sydney replied trying to hold her still.

"It doesn't matter; I have to . . . get . . . him." She kept trying to stop fight her but Sydney wasn't the one bleeding, so she was able to hold her back.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, stop."

"It doesn't matter, nothing matters anymore don't you see that," she said as she glared at Sydney and it was then that she started to cry. Sydney looked at her daughter and could feel her pain. She fought back her own tears as Katairina fell apart in front of her.

"It's going to be okay," she said to her.

"No, it's not going to be okay, it can't be, because he's gone and he's not coming back," she sobbed and grasped onto her mother.

"I know, but I promise, it will be okay again, one day." Sydney held onto her as she cried and just looked to Vaughn who looked sadly at her too.

_Los Angeles_

Sydney walked into the restroom at her house just as Katairina finished cleaning up.

"Are you okay?" she asked and Katairina laughed a little.

"No." Was all she said. Again, there was silence before Sydney knew she had to talk.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, we don't have to do this now."

"It's okay, it needs to be done and I owe him this much."

"Well everything's ready when you're ready." Katairina nodded at her and then took a very deep breath. This was going to be possibly the most difficult thing she has ever done in her life.

The coffin lay in front of her and Katairina just stared at it. She didn't notice anything else around her either. Sydney, Vaughn and some of the others had shown up there to support her. After the priest was done with his words, they began to lower the coffin into the grave. She watched without much emotion as the process was finished. When it was all the way in, the priest turned to Katairina and nodded. She also nodded to him before turning her attention back to the open grave. She took her hands and unclasped a necklace from around her neck. Sydney watched her do this and she had noticed the necklace before. It had the symbol of Rambaldi on it. She took it and looked at it for a moment before letting it fall into the grave. It landed on top of the coffin and she looked at it for a moment before bending down to pick up a handful of dirt. She stood up and slowly let it flow into the hole. It covered the necklace and then she was done. When the full filling in began, it seemed she couldn't take anymore. She turned away and began to slowly walk away. Sydney watched her walk away straight into the sun that was setting right in front of her. When she was a little ways away, she turned back to Sydney and they locked eyes. They both knew this wasn't over and so much had been lost already.

Weeks after the funeral Katairina and Sydney had been working on a plan to get to Alexander. Ever since the debacle in New York, they knew they had to be more careful. They needed to do more research on him. Seeing as how long he had been around, there was a lot of information that they had to sort through. Sydney was going through some information when an assistant came to her with a small package which he handed to her. Sydney opened the package and a note fell out along with a transmitter. She picked it up and looked at it. She immediately recognized the handwriting and when she opened it up her suspicions were confirmed. This was a note written to her by her Aunt Katya. The last time that she saw her, she had escaped the raid on Katairina's base. She had disappeared but Sydney knew that she was still out there, ready for a call from Katairina at a moment's notice. When she read it she was intrigued, worried and angry at the same time. After reading it, she went to find Dixon and the others. She found them in Dixon's office and they saw that she was worried.

"Sydney, what is it?" Dixon immediately asked.

"Where's Katairina?" she asked first.

"Going through property records and business plans for Alexander's New York office, should we send for her?"

"Not yet."

"What is it?" Vaughn asked.

"I got this from Katya," she said as she handed Dixon the note and he read it. His brow furrowed when he read it and the others looked at him for an explanation.

"Is she serious, it says here she knows Alexander," he said and that peaked everyone's interest.

"Yes and she sent this with it." Sydney then held up the transmitter which Marshall took from her.

"Well, this looks like a wireless transmitter of some sort. It looks to have communicator capabilities."

"So, this is Katya's way of communicating with us?" Rachel replied.

"Let's see," Sydney said and she took it from Marshall and went to a computer. She hooked up the device and it immediately activated. On the computer screen a blank pop-up appeared. It began initiating for a signal which it reached and when it did, Katya's face appeared. She saw them and smiled upon seeing Sydney.

"Hello Sydney, now first, don't try to trace this, I've taken precautions. Now, I'm sorry about these means but it is the only way I know that I can be safe."

"Seeing as how the last time we met each other you tried to kill me, again." Katya just smiled at that.

"Yes, well, I was only doing what Katairina asked. I'd still do anything for her, make sure to tell her that." Sydney just looked annoyed but let her speak.

"What do you want Katya?"

"To protect Katairina which is my job now and also because I know more about what you want."

"You said in your note that you know Alexander, first how did you knew we were dealing with him?"

"That doesn't matter, all you need to know is that I can help, now do you want what I know?" Sydney took a deep breath and then nodded.

"Alright well, Alexander always had the same first name but his last name has changed from the centuries he's lived. When I knew him, he was called Alexander Balinski. He was a very good friend of my father and he was the one who personally recruited all of us into the KGB."

"Wait, how, why?" Vaughn asked.

"At the time, he was a high ranking official of the KGB. He taught us from the time we were children and he was a main factor in your mother's life. He had always paid special interest towards her, probably knowing her role in his brother's work. This special attention angered Elena as we grew up which I believe was a key reason why Elena and Irina never got along. I even think that he liked to see them fight over him and so he encouraged it. He taught us all to be the best in what we did and then years later he disappeared without a word. However, he did leave his mark, especially on your mother."

"Are you saying that he turned them into monsters?"

"It didn't help that he was a part of their lives, he always told us that we together would do one of the greatest things in history together and now I knew that was bringing Katairina into the world but the most insidious thing is that after I started doing intense research into him I found out how much he had to do with . . . well . . . everything."

"Meaning?" Dixon asked.

"Sydney, he engineered Irina's mission to seduce your father which ultimately led to you and that is not to mention he was instrumental in Irina's and Elena's searches for Rambaldi which caused, as you know, so much suffering." They all thought about that and they did know how much suffering had been caused. Sydney was particularly distressed by her revelation on Alexander's role in basically, her birth.

"So, you're saying he started all of this?" Vaughn asked.

"All I'm saying is that he must have known what was going to happen from Milo Rambaldi and with that knowledge he steered things in the right direction."

"What do you know about now, where he is, what he is doing?" Sydney asked finally.

"He's very good at hiding when he wants to; he's had a lot of practice. All I do know is that he is working on something that he has been for a long time. Whatever it is, it's bigger than anything you've dealt with before, and I'm talking worldwide proportions."

"But you don't know what it is?" Sydney asked.

"I may know," a voice said behind them and they all turned to see Katairina. She had a very serious look on her face.

"You found something?" Dixon asked.

"Yes, I did," she said and then she looked to the computer screen to Katya, "Katya."

"Dear, how are you?"

"Thanks for your help. I'll take it from here."

"If you ever need anything, ever, you find me." Katairina didn't say anything, she just nodded. Katya figured it was time to sign off and that was what she did. When she was gone, everyone turned to Katairina for an explanation. She had a folder with her which she opened as she came up to them.

"I've been spending my time trying to find anything I can about Alexander's traveling to see if I could piece together a pattern. Maybe to see why he would visit places he had and I think I've finally found something." She then turned to one of the large screens and used a remote to flip on a picture of the world with a lot of red dots on it.

"These are the places he's visited more than once over the years I've been able to track him."

"Okay, so far they look random, what have you found?" Rachel asked.

"One would think but look at this," she said just as she switched to another map which showed what they recognized as a map of the Earth with more dots of a different color, "these dots show major earthquake zones and let's put these two maps together," she did that and they could all see that they the dots matched exactly. That information gave them all a sick feeling.

"What does this mean?" Dixon asked and she turned to face everyone.

"There is a device that I know how to build and I'm assuming my father knew how to build it also. If its extensions were built near fault lines or earthquake zones it could be activated to cause earthquake activity ten times that of a regular earthquake. It can be either done at one location or all at once. The damage is immeasurable." That information got them all thinking and very worried.

"So, you think that, that his endgame, to destroy the world?" Marshall asked.

"Or control it," Sydney suggested, "he likes power, control, and I think that threatening the entire world could give him just that." They all seemed to agree with that assessment and so they knew they had to stop it.

"Okay, where do you think that he would go to do this, build the controls to this device?" Dixon asked.

"Personally," Katairina began, "I think he'd go where it all began, where he feels his power began." Sydney understood where she meant even though the others didn't.

"Mt. Subasio," she said and Katairina nodded.

_Mt. Subasio_

Katairina, Sydney, and Vaughn and a team of CIA operatives all arrived at Mt. Subasio while Rachel and Weiss waited as extractors. Dixon and Marshall stayed in Los Angeles at base ops for communication. When they prepared to come, Katairina knew they would need all the help they could get. So, she made sure they were prepared. She thus gave them weapons. When dealing with the main device that he would use to cause the earthquakes, she said she could stop it and hopefully him. Although, she didn't tell them what it was and they knew better than to ask. All she would say was that it was big. When they arrived at the base of Mt. Subasio, Katairina used a handheld heat sensor that when pointed at the mountain showed any presence of heat. The way she described it was basically when they found some heat they could make out bodies walking around inside the mountain.

"Okay, here's a question, how do we get inside the mountain?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, they got in somehow, there has to be an entrance somewhere," Sydney explained.

"Working on that," Katairina said as she used her device and they couldn't see what she was doing. Soon, she stopped and looked to them, "found it." She then looked to them and pointed forward. When they got near the entrance, they found it guarded by three individuals with guns. Knowing they had to get through them, they all prepared to attack. They had to do it carefully as to not warn anyone else. It was Sydney and Vaughn who took out silencer guns that they used to take them down. They fell without much sound and then they could all make their way to the entrance. After entering, they went down some stairs that led down deeper and deeper inside the mountain. There were no more guards until they got further down. The cavern they later found themselves in opened up into a very large room, one of the biggest rooms they had ever seen. They hid themselves as they watched the going-ons in the room. The only fixtures in the room were a large table in the middle and on it sat a large box. Upon looking at it, they knew it wasn't any ordinary box. It was clear and inside they could see all sorts of wires. There were also flashing lights coming from inside which signaled that is was working. They knew that this must be the activator that would send out the signal to the extensions. That was what they had to take out but it wouldn't be easy because along with the device, there were a few dozen guards. Alexander was there too, right at the device, working on it. He seemed oblivious to everything else and so they knew this was the best time to strike. Sydney nodded to the others with them and they ducked low and began to spread out. There were rock fragments all around which they could duck behind to hide. When Sydney saw they were spread apart enough, she motioned to Katairina. She took her gun and waited only a moment before firing. She aimed right at Alexander and when she hit him, she hit him right in the neck. He grabbed it and fell to his knees. All the guards around turned towards where the shot had come from. That was when the other guards went into action and pulled out their weapons. They hid and shot towards where Sydney and the others were firing. Alexander slowly recovered from the gunshot wound and went to protect the device. When he had it encased in the table that it was sitting on, he looked around. He had obviously activated it before doing so because it had vibrated and the lights had changed in frequency.

_San Francisco_

Sara Madison was walking down the street when the ground beneath her began to quake. It happened so bad that she fell. That wasn't the worst of it because the ground began to quake even worse. All around her the shaking was causing the buildings to shake.

_Chile_

The ground began to shake so hard that the buildings around the people were falling on top of them. There were screams as people ran for cover.

_Los Angeles_

Dixon and Marshall were monitoring the situation when they began to get reports from all around of small earthquakes beginning to erupt all over. They were small but they knew that this wasn't going to be all that was going to happen.

_Mt. Subasio_

Alexander's eyes locked with Katairina who was busy firing towards the other gun fire. Then, when he started to move away, she knew she had to follow him.

"Cover me," she called out to Sydney who barely had time to register her words before she took off.

"Katairina, wait," she called out but it was too late. She ran off to catch up to him which she did when he ran uphill to an upper level of the room. There, they faced off with one another.

"Have you've considered my offer?" he asked her when he quickly turned around to face her.

"I don't remember you offering me anything, only bruises and cracked ribs."

"You know what I want."

"Let me guess, worldwide domination."

Ah yes, an oldie but a goody, wouldn't you say."

"You're insane."

"Probably and I can do it this by myself but it would mean a lot if you worked with me. Your father and I made a great team once and we could as well."

"But you killed him."

"Yes and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but he knew just as I do that everything happens for a reason."

"Well, then I guess this does too," she said and their talking was done. She went at him and they fought. It wasn't with guns, they were both beyond that, it was hand to hand. Katairina got in a few good shots, but he had more years on her, more experience.

Sydney was down below watching as much as she could while keeping the guards at bay. When she saw that Katairina was not faring well, she knew she had to do something. She looked to Vaughn and he knew her well enough to know what she wanted. He thus nodded to her and she made her way up to Katairina and Alexander.

Katairina hit one of the walls so hard that she got a little dizzy. She had to stop and balance herself but as she was doing this Alexander took his foot and put it on her chest. He pressed it there to hold her against the wall.

"Why are you fighting this, your father always knew that you would do great things and with me we could be gods among mortals. With my immortality and your genius, we could rule this world and turn it into what it should be."

"What is right for you is not what is right for everyone else."

"People don't know what's right for them, they need to be told, they are weak and they need strong hands to rule them. I've spent years around people, watching, observing, fighting in their battles and what have I learned is that. No one learns anything. They keep making the same mistakes over and over again. We could be their guides; all you have to do is help me make this world better. Think of this, you have no one else, I am your only option." Katairina looked at him right in the eyes and for a second her eyes darted behind him. Before he could notice though, she looked back to him.

"You might be right about people, I don't know much about the world yet, but I know what you are wrong about. You're wrong about me being alone, I may have thought that once but I'm not alone because I have her," she said and then he snorted.

"Who?" he asked and then he heard a small shift behind him. He turned around quickly but it was too late because Sydney was right there. She hit him and he fell backwards onto his back.

"Me," she said and he laughed a little.

"Well, if it isn't the mighty Sydney Bristow, I've waited years to meet you as well," he said as he got up.

"Yes, I've heard from Katya how long you've waited."

"Yes, dear Katya, a lesser Derevko but still a Derevko. I'm sure she told you much. I had set some things in motion to get to you which was odd for me because I still remember when my brother first saw you. He was ten years old; I woke up one night to see him by the window of our room looking out as if in amazement. When I asked him what was wrong, you know what he said; he said that he had just seen an angel. And after everything else that he saw of you over the years, he always called you that, his angel. You and Katairina, you were his angel and his heart," he then looked to the both of them as they looked back at him, "oh, you two are a pair aren't you, mother and daughter, just as he saw."

"You have no right to talk about him, you lost that right when you killed him," Sydney replied.

"Well imagine that, you trying to defend him. Please Sydney, don't feign like he didn't hurt you," he replied and then he looked desperate for a moment, "I loved my brother Sydney, but what he was going to do was going to ruin everything."

"What are you talking about?" Katairina asked as she stood side by side with her mother.

"The more visions he had of you in danger or in pain, the worse it got for him. You may not think that he felt everything that you felt, but he did. It began to eat away at him until finally he said that he had, had enough," right then he laughed at little before looking back at them, "you have no idea what he was going to do for you. He was going to do away with everything we had built. Everything that we were working for was going to be thrown away and for what, for a woman he knew would despise him and for a daughter he was never going to know. I couldn't let him do that, so I had to act."

"So you went to the Pope and convinced him that he was a heretic, that what he was doing was evil even though you had been with him since the beginning," Katairina replied.

"I had too much riding on all of this to let him do it." He had just basically told them that everything they had gone through in their lives because of Rambaldi could have been avoided. Milo was going to stop it all and that actually made Sydney feel something she never had for Milo Rambaldi. However, she couldn't focus on that right now. Right now she had to focus on Alexander who was now ready for a fight. Both Sydney and Katairina though had a plan and when they both listened, they knew it was time.

"Well, you may not have let him ruin everything but you did let us," Sydney replied and he looked confused.

"You may think you're all powerful because you're immortal but you're still just one person and you just can't find good help these days can you." He just kept looking at them oddly the whole time they talked.

"Do you hear that?" Katairina asked and Alexander listened and what he heard was nothing. There was no sign of gun fire that they had been hearing since they arrived. The gunfire signified that the fight was continuing but now that it was over, it meant the battle was over too. Alexander, who had, had his back to the cliff looked cautiously behind him to see who had won. Unfortunally for him, he saw that all his men was down and Vaughn were down there doing something to the device. He narrowed his eyes when he saw what was happening. He definitely wasn't going to let this happen and so he had to act. So, he turned back to the two of them and seethed. He went at them just then and they both fought him.

Vaughn watched the battle from up above and even though he wanted to help, he had a job to do. He got to work planting the small device Katairina had given him right where she told him to. When that was done, he had to get out of there. He thus took one last look at them before getting the other men and leaving.

Sydney blocked a shot from Alexander. Katairina then punched at him which hit him in the face. He stumbled back but kept his feet underneath him.

"So what are you going to do now, blow up my device, I'll just build another one and you destroy that one, another and another. You can't stop me, just like your father."

"Maybe he couldn't but welcome to a new age and I'm not my father." Right then, both Sydney and Katairina stood together and simultaneously kicked. Their kicks hit him in the chest and he flew backwards off the cliff. He landed on his back and the wind got knocked out of him. He looked up at them as they grinned down at him. Since he was down there he looked up to where the device was sitting. What he saw made him cringe. He had thought that Katairina was just going to blow up his device but what he saw was not a normal bomb. He had only seen a bomb like this once before but even his brother had kept the construction of it from him. In that moment, he saw what was going to happen and he began to seethe. The countdown had begun and it would all be over soon.

Katairina and Sydney looked down at him and then back to each other. They knew exactly how much time they had and they knew they had to get out of there. Sydney was the first to make her way for their exit. She was a little ways there when she turned back to see Katairina wasn't following her.

"Katairina, we have to go," she said and Katairina glared at Alexander. Then, she smiled at him and did her trademark, B-Seein-Ya before running after Sydney. Alexander watched them go and knew he had to do something but then he looked at the timer and it was down to a few seconds. It was too late for him.

Katairina was right behind Sydney as they ran with all their might. They heard when the bomb went off because there was a loud popping noise. They ran as fast as they could as they could feel the heat behind them. They couldn't risk looking back because they knew what was behind them.

Vaughn and the others were in the awaiting helicopter flying near the exit where they were supposed to be waiting for Sydney and Katairina. There was no sign of them and Vaughn was getting worried, especially when he looked at Katairina's heat sensor. There was heat starting from one small area and spreading fast.

"Sir, we're going to have to leave soon," the pilot said but Vaughn just stared at him.

"They'll be here," he said and then he looked at the entrance, "they'll be here." The last one was a whisper, as he was hoping too.

Katairina and Sydney ran and soon they saw the light of the exit. They just both really hoped that the helicopter was there when they needed it because if it wasn't, it would be a really long fall.

Vaughn was the first one to see them.

"There they are," he called out and the pilot nodded as he flew to intercept them. They had to time it just right because they both jumped off the cliff. They flew at the helicopter just as it flew upwards. Vaughn dropped the ladder that they could grab onto as they fell. It took all their strength to grab it and keep from falling. Once Vaughn saw that they were on, he turned to the pilot.

"Get out of here now!" he yelled and it was a good thing that he did because everything cumulated in one final blast. Everyone watched as the whole mountain seemed to disintegrate. They had not seen anything like it, it was just gone. The mountain had just crumpled. Vaughn and everyone else in the helicopter saw it and couldn't believe it. They were in awe of the power. Down below Katairina watched her work and Sydney took a deep breath.

"It's over," she called up to Katairina who just kept looking at the ruins. She knew it was most likely over but now, she had the future to deal with and the future was the most uncertain thing in her life at the moment.

_Los Angeles_

After everything was finally over and they all got back stateside, Vaughn found himself with Dixon. They were going over damage control while wondering what was going to happen next. Sydney wasn't there and Dixon called Vaughn on it.

"Where are they?" he asked and Vaughn looked up from what he was looking at.

"Well, Sydney said she had something to do, which I took as she went to see Katairina."

"Now that it's all over, what do you think that Katairina's going to do?" At that, Vaughn looked grim.

"Honestly Dixon, I don't know, her fate's in her own hands."

Sydney walked into the cemetery and up to the tombstone that Katairina was kneeling by. She knew she had come as she brushed some debris from Tyler's grave.

"You know it may not seem like it right now but I think that no matter what, things happen for a reason." Sydney said that and Katairina laughed a small laugh.

"Do you really believe that?"

"You know, after everything, I think I do."

"Then I've guess you've come a long way."

"I guess I have," she replied, smiling and then there was silence, "are you really leaving again?" This time it was Katairina's turn to take a deep breath.

"A lot of things have happened to me since I came here, some good but a lot of them, not so good," she then looked back at Taylor's grave, "but no matter what happened, I'm still here and I believe that I have to do something more with my life."

"But you don't have to leave to do it, you could stay, do good here."

"I know and I know that people like Kendall want me to stay but the world is a big place and I think there is a lot more to be done out there than here." Sydney just looked at her sadly because she knew nothing she could say was going to change her mind. So, there was only one thing that she could say.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked as Katairina stood up, brushed off the grass on her knees and faced her mother.

"Yeah, I'm going to be fine," she said and Sydney nodded, "it always seems like I'm leaving doesn't it?"

"Well, things happen for a reason remember." Katairina nodded as they faced on another. They took that moment to hug very deeply.

"If you ever need anything," Sydney said and Katairina nodded. They then released each other and Katairina began to walk away. When she was sufficiently away, she turned back to wave at her mother, who waved back at her. She then continued to walk away until Sydney couldn't see her anymore. She then looked around and smiled to herself.


End file.
